.\^  K\ 


A^mitf,'l«M^',','M^,';ijj^,y''V) 


iROWH^COJili^^^ 


«mm«» 


i 


IBRARY 

UNlVERjTY  OF 

California 
SAN  DIEGO 


\'. 


^30 


FRANCE    AND    ENGLAND 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


A  SERIES   OF  HISTORICAL  NARRATIVES. 


BY 
FRANCIS   PARKMAN, 

Al'THOR    OF    "history   OF   THE    CONSPIRACY   OF    PONTIAC,"     "  PRAIRIE    AND 
ROCKY   MOUNTAIN    LIFE,"    ETC. 


PART  FIRST. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,   AND   COMPANY. 

18D0. 


Copyright,  1865, 
Bv  Francis   Parkman. 


Copyright,  1885, 
By  Francis  Farkman. 


University  Press: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


MH. 


PIONEERS    OF    FRANCE 


NEW    WORLD. 


BY 


FRANCIS  PARKMAN, 


AUTHOR    OF    "history    OF    THE    COSSI'IRACY    OF    PONTIAC,"     "I'RAIKIK    AMI 
ROCKY  MOUNTAIN   UFB,"    ETC. 


TWENTY-FIFTH     EDITION. 


REVISED,    WITH    ADDITIONS. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,    BROWN,   AND   COMPANY 

1890 


Copyright,   1865, 
Bv  Francis  Parkmax. 


Copyriyhty  18S5. 
Bv    Francis   Pakkman. 


TO  THE  MEMORY 

OF 

THEODORE    PARKMAN,   ROBERT  GOULD   SHAW, 
AND   HENRY  WARE   HALL, 

SLAIN    IN    BATTLE, 
THIS  VOLUME   IS   DEDICATED  BY  THEIR  KINSMAN, 

THE    AUTHOR. 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

TO   THE   TWENTY-FIFTH   EDITION. 


Since  this  book  first  appeared  some  new  docu- 
mentary evidence  touching  it  has  been  brought  to 
light,  and,  during  a  recent  visit  to  Florida,  I  have 
acquired  a  more  exact  knowledge  of  the  localities 
connected  with  the  French  occupation  of  that  re- 
gion. This  added  information  is  incorporated  in 
the  present  edition,  which  has  also  received  some 

literary  revision. 

/ 

Boston,  September  16,  1885. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  springs  of  American  civilization,  unlike 
those  of  the  elder  world,  lie  revealed  in  the  clear 
light  of  History.  In  appearance  they  are  feeble ; 
in  reality,  copious  and  full  of  force.  Acting  at 
the  sources  of  life,  instruments  otherwise  weak 
become  mighty  for  good  and  evil,  and  men,  lost 
elsewhere  in  the  crowd,  stand  forth  as  agents  of 
Destiny.  In  their  toils,  their  sufferings,  their  con- 
flicts, momentous  questions  were  at  stake,  and 
issues  vital  to  the  future  world,  —  the  prevalence 
of  races,  the  triumph  of  principles,  health  or  dis- 
ease, a  blessing  or  a  curse.  On  the  obscure  strife 
where  men  died  by  tens  or  by  scores  hung  ques- 
tions of  as  deep  import  for  posterity  as  on  those 
mighty  contests  of  national  adolescence  where  car- 
nage is  reckoned  by  thousands. 

The  subject  to  which  the  proposed  series  will 
be  devoted  is  that  of  "  France  in  the  New 
World,"  —  the  attempt  of  Feudalism,  Monarchy, 
and  Rome  to  master  a  continent  where,  at  this 
hour,  half  a  million  of  bayonets  are  vindicating 
the  ascendency  of  a  regulated  freedom  ;  —  Feu- 
dalism still  strong  in  life,  though  enveloped  and 
overborne  by  new-born  Centralization ;   Monarchy 


X  INTRODUCTION.  ' 

in  the  flush  of  triumphant  power ;  Rome,  nerved 
by  disaster,  springing  with  renewed  vitality  from 
ashes  and  corruption,  and  ranging  the  earth  to 
reconquer  abroad  what  she  had  lost  at  home. 
These  banded  powers,  pushing  into  the  wilderness 
their  indomitable  soldiers  and  devoted  priests, 
unveiled  the  secrets  of  the  barbarous  continent, 
pierced  the  forests,  traced  and  mapped  out  the 
streams,  planted  their  emblems,  built  their  forts, 
and  claimed  all  as  their  own.  New  France  was 
all  head.  Under  king,  noble,  and  Jesuit,  the  lank, 
lean  body  would  not  thrive.  Even  commerce  wore 
the  sword,  decked  itself  with  badges  of  nobility, 
aspired  to  forest  seigniories  and  hordes  of  savage 
retainers. 

Along  the  borders  of  the  sea  an  adverse  power 
was  strengthening  and  widening,  with  slow  but 
steadfast  growth,  full  of  blood  and  muscle,  —  a 
body  without  a  head.  Each  had  its  strength,  each 
its  weakness,  each  its  own  modes  of  vigorous  life : 
but  the  one  was  fruitful,  the  other  barren ;  the 
one  instinct  with  hope,  the  other  darkening  with 
shadows  of  despair. 

By  name,  local  position,  and  character,  one  of 
these  communities  of  freemen  stands  forth  as  the 
most  conspicuous  representative  of  this  antago- 
nism ;  —  Liberty  and  Absolutism,  New  England 
and  New  France.  The  one  was  the  offspring  of  a 
triumphant  government ;  the  other,  of  an  oppressed 
and  fugitive  people  :  the  one,  an  unflinching  cham- 
pion of  the  Roman  Catholic  reaction ;  the  other, 
a  vanguard  of  the  Reform.    Each  followed  its  nat- 


INTRODUCTION.  Xi 

ural  laws  of  growth,  and  each  came  to  its  natural 
result.  Vitalized  by  the  principles  of  its  foun- 
dation, the  Puritan  commonwealth  grew  apace. 
New  England  was  pre-eminently  the  land  of  mate- 
rial progress.  Here  the  prize  was  within  every 
man's  reach ;  patient  industr}^  need  never  doubt 
its  reward ;  nay,  in  defiance  of  the  four  Gospels, 
assiduity  in  pursuit  of  gain  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  a  duty,  and  thrift  and  godliness  were 
linked  in  equivocal  wedlock.  Politically  she  was 
free ;  socially  she  suffered  from  that  subtile  and 
searching  oppression  which  the  dominant  opinion 
of  a  free  community  may  exercise  over  the  mem- 
bers who  compose  it.  As  a  whole,  she  grew  upon 
the  gaze  of  the  world,  a  signal  example  of  expan- 
sive energy ;  but  she  has  not  been  fruitful  in  those 
salient  and  striking  forms  of  character  which  often 
give  a  dramatic  life  to  the  annals  of  nations  far 
less  prosperous. 

We  turn  to  New  France,  and  all  is  reversed. 
Here  was  a  bold  attempt  to  crush  under  the  exac- 
tions of  a  grasping  hierarchy,  to  stifle  under  the 
curbs  and  trappings  of  a  feudal  monarchy,  a  people 
compassed  by  influences  of  the  wildest  freedom,  — 
whose  schools  were  the  forest  and  the  sea,  whose 
trade  was  an  armed  barter  with  savages,  and 
whose  daily  life  a  lesson  of  lawless  independence. 
But  this  fierce  spirit  had  its  vent.  The  story  of 
New  France  is  from  the  first  a  story  of  war :  of 
war  —  for  so  her  founders  believed  —  with  the 
adversary  of  mankind  himself ;  war  with  savage 
tribes  and  potent  forest  commonwealths ;  war  with 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

the  encroaching  powers  of  Heresy  and  of  England. 
Her  brave,  unthinking  people  were  stamped  with 
the  soldier's  virtues  and  the  soldier's  faults ;  and 
in  their  leaders  were  displayed,  on  a  grand  and 
novel  stage,  the  energies,  aspirations,  and  pas- 
sions which  belong  to  hopes  vast  and  vague,  ill- 
restricted  powers,  and  stations  of  command. 

The  growth  of  New  England  was  a  result  of 
the  aggregate  efforts  of  a  busy  multitude,  each  in 
his  narrow  circle  toiling  for  himself,  to  gather 
competence  or  wealth.  The  expansion  of  New 
France  was  the  achievement  of  a  gigantic  ambi- 
tion striving  to  grasp  a  continent.  It  was  a  vain 
attempt.  Long  and  valiantly  her  chiefs  upheld 
their  cause,  leading  to  battle  a  vassal  population, 
warlike  as  themselves.  Borne  down  by  numbers 
from  without,  wasted  by  corruption  from  within. 
New  France  fell  at  last ;  and  out  of  her  fall  grew 
revolutions  whose  influence  to  this  hour  is  felt 
through  every  nation  of  the  civilized  world. 

The  French  dominion  is  a  memory  of  the  past ; 
and  when  we  evoke  its  departed  shades,  they  rise 
upon  us  from  their  graves  in  strange,  romantic 
guise.  Again  their  ghostly  camp-fires  seem  to 
burn,  and  the  fitful  light  is  cast  around  on  lord 
and  vassal  and  black-robed  priest,  mingled  with 
wild  forms  of  savage  warriors,  knit  in  close  fellow- 
ship on  the  same  stern  errand.  A  boundless  vis- 
ion grows  upon  us  ;  an  untamed  continent ;  vast 
wastes  of  forest  verdure ;  mountains  silent  in  pri- 
meval sleep  ;  river,  lake,  and  glimmering  pool ; 
wilderness  oceans  mingling  with  the  sky.     Such 


INTRODUCTION.  Xui 

was  the  domain  which  France  conquered  for  Civ- 
ilization. Plumed  helmets  gleamed  in  the  shade 
of  its  forests,  priestly  vestments  in  its  dens  and 
fastnesses  of  ancient  barbarism.  Men  steeped  in 
antique  learning,  pale  with  the  close  breath  of  the 
cloister,  here  spent  the  noon  and  evening  of  their 
lives,  ruled  savage  hordes  with  a  mild,  parental 
sway,  and  stood  serene  before  the  direst  shapes  of 
death.  Men  of  courtly  nurture,  heirs  to  the  polish 
of  a  far-reaching  ancestry,  here,  with  their  daunt- 
less hardihood,  put  to  shame  the  boldest  sons  of 
toil. 

This  memorable  but  half-forgotten  chapter  in 
the  book  of  human  life  can  be  rightly  read  only 
by  lights  numerous  and  widely  scattered.  The 
earlier  period  of  New  France  was  prolific  in  a 
class  of  publications  which  are  often  of  much  his- 
toric value,  but  of  which  many  are  exceedingly 
rare.  The  writer,  however,  has  at  length  gained 
access  to  them  all.  Of  the  unpublished  records  of 
the  colonies,  the  archives  of  France  are  of  course 
the  grand  deposit ;  but  many  documents  of  impor- 
tant bearing  on  the  subject  are  to  be  found  scat- 
tered in  public  and  private  libraries,  chiefly  in 
France  and  Canada.  The  task  of  collection  has 
proved  abundantly  irksome  and  laborious.  It  has, 
however,  been  greatly  lightened  by  the  action  of 
the  governments  of  New  York,  Massachusetts,  and 
Canada,  in  collecting  from  Europe  copies  of  docu- 
ments having  more  or  less  relation  to  their  own 
history.  It  has  been  greatly  lightened,  too,  by  a 
most  kind  co-operation,  for  which  the  writer  owes 


Xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

obligations  too.  many  for  recognition  at  present, 
but  of  which  he  trusts  to  make  fitting  acknowledg- 
ment hereafter.  Yet  he  cannot  forbear  to  mention 
the  name  of  Mr.  John  Gilmary  Shea  of  New  York, 
to  whose  labors  this  department  of  American  his- 
tory has  been  so  deeply  indebted,  and  that  of  the 
Hon.  Henry  Black  of  Quebec.  Nor  can  he  refrain 
from  expressing  his  obligation  to  the  skilful  and 
friendly  criticism  of  Mr.  Charles  Folsom. 

In  this,  and  still  more  must  it  be  the  case  in 
succeeding  volumes,  the  amount  of  reading  applied 
to  their  composition  is  far  greater  than  the  cita- 
tions represent,  much  of  it  being  of  a  collateral 
and  illustrative  nature.  This  was  essential  to  a 
plan  whose  aim  it  was,  while  scrupulously  and 
rigorously  adhering  to  the  truth  of  facts,  to  ani- 
mate them  with  the  life  of  the  past,  and,  so  far  as 
might  be,  clothe  the  skeleton  with  flesh.  If,  at 
times  it  may  seem  that  range  has  been  allowed  to 
fancy,  it  is  so  in  appearance  only  ;  since  the  mi- 
nutest details  of  narrative  or  description  rest  on 
authentic  documents  or  on  personal  observation. 

Faithfulness  to  the  truth  of  history  involves  far 
more  than  a  research,  however  patient  and  scrupu- 
lous, into  special  facts.  Such  facts  may  be  detailed 
with  the  most  minute  exactness,  and  yet  the  nar- 
rative, taken  as  a  whole,  may  be  unmeaning  or 
untrue.  The  narrator  must  seek  to  imbue  himself 
with  the  life  and  spirit  of  the  time.  He  must 
study  events  in  their  bearings  near  and  remote  ; 
in  the  character,  habits,  and  manners  of  those 
who  took  part  in  them.     He  must  himself  be,  as 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

it  were,  a  sharer  or  a  spectator  of  the  action  he 
describes. 

With  respect  to  that  special  research  which,  if 
inadequate,  is  still  in  the  most  emphatic  sense  in- 
dispensable, it  has  been  the  writer's  aim  to  exhaust 
the  existing  material  of  every  subject  treated. 
While  it  would  be  folly  to  claim  success  in  such 
an  attempt,  he  has  reason  to  hope  that,  so  far  at 
least  as  relates  to  the  present  volume,  nothing  of 
much  importance  has  escaped  him.  With  respect 
to  the  general  preparation  just  alluded  to,  he  has 
long  been  too  fond  of  his  theme  to  neglect  any 
means  within  his  reach  of  making  his  conception 
of  it  distinct  and  true. 

To  those  who  have  aided  him  with  information 
and  documents,  the  extreme  slowness  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  work  will  naturally  have  caused  sur- 
prise. This  slowness  was  unavoidable.  During 
the  past  eighteen  years,  the  state  of  his  health  has 
exacted  throughout  an  extreme  caution  in  regard 
to  mental  application,  reducing  it  at  best  within 
narrow  and  precarious  limits,  and  often  precluding 
it.  Indeed,  for  two  periods,  each  of  several  years, 
any  attempt  at  bookish  occupation  would  have 
been  merely  suicidal.  A  condition  of  sight  arising 
from  kindred  sources  has  also  retarded  the  work, 
since  it  has  never  permitted  reading  or  writing 
continuously  for  much  more  than  five  minutes, 
and  often  has  not  permitted  them  at  all.  A  pre- 
vious work,  "  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  was 
written  in  similar  circumstances. 

The  writer  means,  if  possible,  to  carry  the  pres- 


Xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

ent  design  to  its  completion.  Such,  a  completion, 
however,  will  by  no  means  be  essential  as  regards 
the  individual  volumes  of  the  series,  since  each 
will  form  a  separate  and  independent  work.  The 
present  volume,  it  will  be  seen,  contains  two  dis- 
tinct and  completed  narratives.  Some  progress 
has  been  made  in  others. 

Boston,  January  1,  1865. 


CONTENTS. 


HUGUENOTS  IN   FLORIDA. 

Pagb 
Prefatory  Note 3 

CHAPTER  I. 

1512-1561, 

EARLY    SPANISH    ADVENTURE. 

Spanish  Voyagers.  —  Romance  and  Avarice.  —  Ponce  de  Leon.  — 
The  Fountain  of  Youth  and  the  River  Jordan.  —  Discovery  of 
Florida.  —  Garay.  —  AylJon.  —  Paraphilo  de  Narvaez.  —  His  Fate. 
—  Hernando  de  Soto.  — His  Enterprise.  —  His  Adventures.  —  His 
Death.  —  Succeeding  Voyagers.  —  Spanish  Claim  to  Florida.  — 
English  and  French  Claim. —  Spanish  Jealousy  of  France    ...       9 

CHAPTER  II. 
1550-1558, 

VILLEGAGNON. 

Spain  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.  —  France.  —  The  Huguenots.  — 
The  Court.  —  Caspar  de  Coligny.  —  Priests  and  Monks.  —  Nicolas 

■  Durand  de  Villegagnon.  —  His  Exploits.  —  His  Character.  —  His 
Scheme  of  a  Protestant  Colony. —  Huguenots  at  Rio  Janeiro. — 
Despotism  of  ViUegagnon.  —  Villegagnon  and  the  Ministers.  — 
Polemics.  —  The  Ministers  expelled.  —  Their  Sufferings.  —  Ruin 
of  the  Colony ,20 

CHAPTER  III. 
1562,  1563. 

JEAN    RIBAUT. 

A  Second  Huggenot  Colony  —  Coligny,  his  Position.  —  The  Hugue- 
not Party,  its  motley  Character.  —  The  Puritans  of  Massachu- 
setts. —  Ribaut  sails  for  Florida.  —  The  River  of  May.  —  Hopes.  — 

b 


XVlll  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Illusions.  —  The  Sea  Islands.  —  Port  Royal.  —  Charlesfort.  —  Albert 
and  his  Colony.  —  Frolic.  —  Adventure.  —  Improvidence.  —  Famine. 

—  Mutiny.  —  Barre  takes  Command.  —  A  Brigantine  built.  — 
Florida  abandoned.  —  Tempest.  —  Desperation.  —  Cannibalism  .     .    33 

CHAPTER   IV. 
1564. 

LAUDON'NlfeRE 

The  New  Colony.  —  Rene'  de  Laudonniere.  —  The  Peace  of  Amboise. 

—  Satouriona.  —  The  Promi.sed  Laud.  —  Miraculous  Longevity. — 
Fort  Caroline.  —  Native  Tribes.  —  Ottigny  explores  the  St.  John's. 

—  River  Scenery.  —  The  Thimagoas.  —  Conflicting  Alliances.  — 
Indian  War.  —  Diplomacy  of  Laudonniere.  —  Vasseur's  Expedition.^s*^ 

—  Battle  and  Victory K^^ 

CHAPTER   V. 

1564,  1565. 

CONSPIEACY. 

Discontent.  —  Plot  of  La  Roquette.  —  Piratical  Excnrsion. —  Sedition. 

—  Illness  of  Laudonniere.  —  The  Commandant  put  in  Irons.  — 
Plan  of  the  Mutineers.  —  Buccaneering.  —  Disaster  and  Repent- 
ance.—  The  Ringleaders  hanged. —  Order  restored 63 


CHAPTER   VL 
1564,  1565. 

FAMIJTE.  —  WAK.  —  SUCCOR. 

La  Roche  Ferriere.  —  Pierre  Gambie.  —  The  King  of  Calos;.  —  Ro- 
mantic Tales.  —  Ottigny's  Expedition.  —  Starvation.  —  Efforts  to 
escape  from  Florida.  —  Indians  unfriendly.  —  Seizure  of  Outina.  — 
Attempts  to  extort  Ransom.  — Ambuscade.  —  Battle.  —  Desperation 
of  the  French.  —  Sir  John  Hawkins  relieves  them.  —  Ribant  brings 
Reinforcements.  —  Arrival  of  the  Spaniards      ...         ....  nS) 

CHAPTER  VIL 
1565. 

MEKENDEZ.  ^ 

Spain.  —  Pedro  Menendez  de  Avile's.  —  His  Boyhood.  —  His  Early 
Career.  —  His  Petition  to  the  King.  —  Commissioned  to  conquer 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

Page 
Florida.  —  His  Powers.  —  His  Designs.  —  A  New  Crusade.  — 
Sailiug  of  the  Spanish  Fleet.  —  A  Storm.  —  Porto  Rico.  —  Energy 
of  Menendez.  —  He  reaches  Florida.  —  Attacks  Ribaut's  Ships. — 
Founds  St.  Augustine. — Alarm  of  the  French. —  Bold  Decision 
of  Ribaut. —  Defenceless  Condition  of  Fort  Caroline. — Ribaut 
thwarted.  —  Tempest.  —  Menendez  marches  on  the  French  Fort.  — 
His  Desperate  Resolution.  —  The  Fort  taken.  —  The  Maasacre.  — 
The  Fugitives 96 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
1565. 

MASSACRE    OF    THE    HEKETICS. 

Menendez  returns  to  St.  Augustine.  —  Tidings  of  the  French.  — 
Ribaut  shipwrecked.  —  The  March  of  Menendez.  —  He  discovers 
the  French.  —  Interviews.  —  Hopes  of  Mercy.  —  Surrender  of  the 
French.  —  Massacre.  —  Return  to  St.  Augustine.  —  Tidings  of 
Ribaut's  Party.  —  His  Interview  with  Menendez.  —  Deceived  and 
betrayed.  —  Murdered.  —  Another    Massacre.  —  French  Accounts. 

—  Schemes  of  the  Spaniards.  —  Survivors  of  the  Carnage    .     .    .  131 

CHAPTER   IX. 

1565-1567. 

CHARLES    IX.    AND     PHILIP     II. 

State  of  International  Relations.  —  Complaints  of  Philip  the  Second. 

—  Reply  of  Charles  the  Ninth.  —  News  of  the  Massacre.  —  The 
French  Court  demands  Redress.  —  The  Spanish  Court  refuses  it  .    151 

CHAPTER  X. 
1567-1574. 

DOMINIQUE    DE    GOURGUES. 

His  Past  Life.  —  His  Hatred  of  Spaniards.  —  Resolves  on  Vengeance. 

—  His  Band  of  Adventurers.  —  His  Plan  divulged.  —  His  Speech. 

—  Enthusiasm  of  his  FoUoVers.  —  Condition  of  the  Spaniards.  — 
Arrival  of  Gourgues.  —  Interviews  with  Indians.  —  The  Span- 
iards  attacked.  —  The    First    Fort    carried.  —  Another    Victory. 

—  The  Final  Triumph.  —  The  Prisoners  hanged.  —  The  Forts 
destroyed.  —  Sequel  of  Gourgues's  Career.  —  Menendez.  —  His 
Death 157 


XX  CONTENTS. 


CHAMPLAIN  AKD  HIS  ASSOCIATES. 

Page 
Prefatory  Note 183 

CHAPTER  I. 

1488-1543. 

EARLY    FRENCH    ADVENTURE   IN   NORTH   AMERICA. 

Traditions  of  French  Discovery.  —  Cousin.  —  Normans,  Bretons, 
Basques.  —  Legends  and  Superstitions.  —  Francis  the  First.  — 
Verrazzano.  —  His  Voyage  to  North  America.  —  Jacques  Cartier. 

—  His  First  Voyage.  —  His  Second  Voyage.  —  Anchors  at  Quebec. 

—  Indian  Masquerade.  —  Visits  Hochelaga.  —  His  Reception.  — 
Mont  Royal.  —  Winter  at  Quebec.  —  Scurvy.  —  Wonderful  Cures. 

—  Kidnapping.  —  Return  to  France.  —  Roberval.  —  Spanish  Jeal- 
ousy. —  Cartier's  Third  Voyage.  —  Cap  Rouge.  —  Roberval  sails 
for  New  France.  —  His  Meeting  with  Cartier.  —  Marguerite  and 
the  Isles  of  Demons.  —  Roberval  at  Cap  Rouge.  —  His  Severity. 

—  Ruin  of  the  Colony.  —  His  Death 187 

CHAPTER  II. 

1542-1604. 

LA    ROCHE.  —  CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE   MONT8. 

French  Fishermen  and  Fur-Traders.  —  La  Roche.  —  His  Voyage.  — 
The  Convicts  of  Sable  Island.  —  Pontgrave  and  Chauvin.  —  Ta- 
doussac.  —  Henry  the  Fourth. —Tranquillity  restored  in  France. 

—  Samuel  de  Champlain.  —  He  visits  the  West  Indies  and  Mexico. 

—  His  Character.  —  De  Chastes  and  Champlain.  —  Champlain  and 
Pontgrave  explore  the  St.  Lawrence.  —  Death  of  De  Chastes.  — 

De  Monts.  —  His  Acadian  Schemes.  —  His  Patent 229 

CHAPTER  IIL 

1604,  1605. 

ACADIA   OCCUPIED. 

Catholic  and  Calvinist.  —  The  Lost  Priest.  —  Port  Royal.  —  The 
Colony  of  St.  Croix.  —  Winter  Miseries.  —  Explorations  of 
Champlain.  —  He  visits  the  Coast  of  Massachusetts.  —  De  Monts 
at  Port  Royal 245 


CONTENTS.  XXi 

CHAPTER  IV. 
1605-1607. 

liESCASBOT   AND   CHAMPLAIN. 

Page 
De  Monts  at  Paris.  —  Marc  Lescarbot.  —  Rochelle.  —  A  New  Em- 
barkation. —  The  Ship  aground.  —  The  outward  Voyage.  —  Arri- 
val at  Port  Royal.  —  Disappointment.  —  Voyage  of  Champlain.  — 
Skirmish  with  Tndii^ns.  —  Masquerade  of  Lescarbot.  —  Winter 
Life  at  Port  Royal.  —  L'Ordre  de  Bon-Temps.  —  Excursions.  — 
Spring  Employments.  —  Hopes  blighted.  —  Port  Royal  abandoned. 

—  Membertou.  —  Return  to  France 258 

CHAPTER  V. 

1610,  1611. 

THE   JESUITS    AND    THEIR    PATRONESS. 

Schemes  of  Poutrincourt.  —  The  Jesuits  and  the  King.  —  The 
Jesuits  disappointed.  —  Sudden  Conversions.  —  Indian  Proselytes. 

—  Assassination  of  the  King.  —  Biencourt  at  Court.  —  Madame  de 
GuercheviUe.  —  She  resists  the  King's  Suit.  —  Becomes  a  Devotee. 

—  Her  Associates  at  Court.  —  She  aids  the  Jesuits.  —  Biard  and 
Masse.  —  They  sail  for  America 276 

CHAPTER   VL 

1611,  1612. 

JESUITS    IN   ACADIA. 

The  Jesuits  arrive.  —  Collision  of  Powers  Temporal  and  Spiritual. 

—  Excursion  of  Biencourt.  —  Father  Masse.  —  His  Experience  as 
a  Missionary.  —  Death  of  Membertou.  —  Father  Biard's  Indian 
Studies.  —  Dissension. —  Misery  at  Port  Royal.  —  Grant  to  Madame 
de  GuercheviUe.  —  Gilbert  du  Thet.  —  Quarrels.  —  Anathemas.  — 
Truce__ 289 

CHAPTER  VII. 
1613. 

LA    SAUSSAYE.  —  ARGALL. 

Forlorn  Condition  of  Poutrincourt. — Voyage  of  La  Saussaye. — 
Mount  Desert.  —  St.  Sauveur.  —  The  Jesuit  Colony.  —  Captain 
Samuel  Argall.  —  He  attacks  the  French.  —  Death  of  Du  Thet.  — 
Knavery  of  Argall.  —  St.  Sauveur  destroyed.  —  The  Prisoners      .    300 


XXll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

1613-1615. 

ruin  of  french  acadia. 

Pagb 
The  Jesuits  at  Jamestown.  —  Wrath  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale.  —  Second 
Expedition  of  ArgaU.  —  Port  Royal  demolished.  —  Equivocal 
Posture  of  the  Jesuits. — Jeopardy  of  Father  Biard.  —  Biencourt 
and  ArgaU.  —  Adventures  of  Biard  and  Quentin.  —  Sequel  of 
Argall's  History.  —  Death  of  Poutrincourt.  —  The  French  will  not 
abandon  Acadia 311 

CHAPTER  IX. 

1608,  1609. 

CIIAMPLAIN    AT    QUEBEC. 

A  new  Enterprise.  —  The  St.  Lawrence.  —  Conflict  with  Basques. 

—  Tadoussac.  —  The  Saguenay.  —  Quebec  founded.  —  Conspiracy. 

—  The  Montagnais.  —  Winter  at  Quebec.  —  Spring.  —  Projects  of 
Exploration 324 

CHAPTER  X. 
1609. 

LAKE    CHAMPLAIN. 

Champlain  joins  a  War  Party.  —  Preparation.  —  War-Dance.  — 
Departure.  —  The  River  Richelieu.  —  The   Rapids  of  Chambly. 

—  The  Spirits  consulted.  —  Discovery  of  Lake  Champlain.  — 
Battle  with  the  Iroquois.  —  Fate  of  Prisoners.  —  Panic  of  the 
Victors 339 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1610-1612. 

WAR.  TRADE. DISCOVERT. 

Champlain  at  Fontainebleau.  —  Champlain  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  — 
Alarm.  — Battle.  —  Victory.  —  War  Parties.  —  Rival  Traders.  — 
Icebergs.  —  Adventurers.  —  Champlain  at  Montreal.  —  Return  to 
France.  —  Narrow  Escape  of  Champlain.  —  The  Corate  de  Sois- 
sons.  —  The  Prince  de  Conde'.  —  Designs  of  Champlain    ....     353 


CONTENTS.  XXlli 

CHAPTER  XII. 
1612,  1613. 

the  impostor  vignau. 

Page 
Illusions.  —  A  Path  to  the  North  Sea.  —  Champlain  on  the  Ottawa. 

—  Forest  Travellers.  —  The  Chaudiere.  —  Isle  des  AUumettes.  — 
Ottawa  Towns.  —  Tessouat.  —  Indian  Cemetery.  —  Feast.  —  The 
Impostor  exposed.  —  Return  of  Champlain.  —  False  Alarm.  — 
Arrival  at  Montreal 367 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
1615. 

DISCOVERT    OF    LAKE    HUROX. 

Religious  Zeal  of  Champlain.  —  Re'coUet  Friars.  —  St.  Francis.  -*► 
The  Franciscans.  —  The  Friars  in  New  France.  —  Dolbeau.  —  Le 
Caron.  —  Policy  of  Champlain.  —  Missions.  —  Trade.  —  Explo- 
ration. —  War.  —  Le  Caron  on  the  Ottawa.  —  Champlain's  Ex- 
pedition. —  He  reaches  Lake  Nipissing.  —  Embarks  on  Lake 
Huron.  —  The  Huron  Villages.  —  Meeting  with  Le  Caron.  —  Mass 
in  the  Wilderness 384 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
1615,  1616. 

THE    GREAT    WAR    PARTY. 

Muster  of  Warriors.  —  Departure.  —  The  River  Trent.  —  Deer  Hunt. 

—  Lake  Ontario. — The  Iroquois  Town.  —  Attack.  —  Repulse. — 
Champlain  wounded.  —  Retreat.  —  Adventures  of  Etienne  Brule. 

—  Winter  Hunt.  —  Champlain  lost  in  the  Forest.  —  Returns  to 
the  Huron  Villages.  —  Visits  the  Tobacco  Nation  and  the  Che- 
veux  Releves.  —  Becomes  Umpire  of  Indian  Quarrels.  —  Returns 

to  Quebec ,    39i» 

CHAPTER  XV. 

1616—1627. 
HOSTILE   SECTS. —  RIVAL   INTERESTS. 

Quebec.  —  Condition  of  the  Colonists.  —  Dissensions.  —  Montmo- 
rency. —  Arrival  of  Madame  de  Champlain.  —  Her  History  and 
Character.  —  Indian  Hostility.  —  The  Monopoly  of  William  and 
Emery    de    Caen .  —  The    Due   de  Ventadour.  —  The  Jesuits.  — 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

Page 
Their    Arrival    at   Quebec.  —  Catholics    and    Heretics.  —  Com- 
promises. —  The  Rival  Colonies.  —  Despotism  in  New  France  and 
in  New  England.  —  Richelieu.  —  The  Company  of  the  Hundred 
Associates 417 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

1628,  1629. 

THE    ENGLISH    AT    QUEBEC. 

Revolt  of  Rochelle.  —  War  with  England.  —  David  Kirke. — The 
English  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  —  Alarms  at  Quebec.  —  Bold  Atti- 
tude of  Champlain.  —  Naval  Battle.  —  The  French  Squadron 
destroyed.  —  Famine  at  Quebec.  —  Return  of  the  English.  — 
Quebec  surrendered.  —  Another  Naval  Battle.  —  Michel.  —  His 
Quarrel  with  Bre'beuf.  —  His  Death.  —  Exploit  of  Daniel.  — 
Champlain  at  London 433 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
1632-1635. 

DEATH    OF   CHAMPLAIN. 

New  France  restored  to  the  French  Crown.  —  Motives  for  reclaiming 
it.  —  Caen  takes  Possession  of  Quebec.  —  Return  of  Jesuits.  — 
Arrival  of  Champlain.  —  Daily  Life  at  Quebec.  —  Policy  and 
Religion.  —  Death  of  Champlain. — His  Character. —  Future  of 
New  France 446 


INDEX 455 


HUGUENOTS    IN    FLORIDA; 


SKETCH    OF   HUGUENOT  COLONIZATION   IN  BRAZIL- 


HUGUENOTS    IN    FLORIDA. 


The  story  of  New  France  opens  with  a  tragedy. 
The  j)plitical  and  religious  enmities  which  were 
soon  to  bathe  Europe  in  blood  broke  out  with  an 
intense  and  concentred  fury  in  the  distant  wilds 
of  Florida.  It  was  under  equivocal  auspices  that 
Coligny  and  his  partisans  essayed  to  build  up  a 
Calvinist  France  in  America,  and  the  attempt  was 
met  by  all  the  forces  of  national  rivalry,  personal 
interest,  and  religious  hate. 

This  striking  passage  of  our  early  history  is 
remarkable  for  the  fulness  and  precision  of  the 
authorities  that  illustrate  it.  The  incidents  of  the 
Huguenot  occupation  of  Florida  are  recorded  by 
eight  eyewitnesses.  Their  evidence  is  marked  by 
an  unusual  accord  in  respect  to  essential  facts,  as 
well  as  by  a  minuteness  of  statement  which  viv- 
idly pictures  the  events  described.  The  following 
are  the  principal  authorities  consulted  for  the  main 
body  of  the  narrative. 

Ribauld,  The  Wliole  and  True  Discoverie  of  Terra 
Florida.  This  is  Captain  Jean  Ribaut's  account  of 
his  voyage  to  Florida  in  1562.  It  was  "  prynted 
at  London,"  "newly  set  fortlie  in  Englishe,"  in 


4  HUGUENOTS  IN  FLORIDA. 

15G3,  and  reprinted  by  Hakluyt  in  1582  in  his 
bliick-letter  tract  entitled  Divers  Voyages.  It  is 
not  known  to  exist  in  the  original  French. 

L'Histoire  Notable  de  la  Floride,  mise  en  lumiere 
par  M.  Basanier  (Paris,  1586).  The  most  valua- 
ble portion  of  this  work  consists  of  the  letters  of 
Rene  de  Laudonniere,  the  French  commandant  in 
Florida  in  1564-65.  They  are  interesting,  and, 
with  necessary  allowance  for  the  position  and  pre- 
judices of  the  writer,  trustworthy. 

Challeux,  Discours  de  VHistoire  de  la  Floride 
(Dieppe,  1566).  Challeux  was  a  carpenter,  who 
went  to  Florida  in  1565.  He  was  above  sixty 
years  of  age,  a  zealous  Huguenot,  and  a  philoso- 
pher in  his  way.  His  story  is  affecting  from  its 
simplicity.  Various  editions  of  it  appeared  under 
various  titles. 

Le  Moyne,  Brevis  Narratio  eorum  qiiw  in  Flo- 
rida Americce  Provincia  Gallis  acciderunt.  Le 
Moyne  was  Laudonniere's  artist.  His  narrative 
forms  the  Second  Part  of  the  Grands  Voyages  of 
De  Bry  (Frankfort,  1591).  It  is  illustrated  by 
numerous  drawings  made  by  the  writer  from 
memory,  and  accompanied  with  descriptive  letter- 
press. 

Coppie  d'lme  Lettre  venant  de  la  Floride  (Paris, 
1565).  This  is  a  letter  from  one  of  the  adven- 
turers under  Laudonniere.  It  is  reprinted  in  the 
Recueil  de  Pieces  sur  la  Floride  of  Ternaux-Com- 
pans.  Ternaux  also  prints  in  the  same  volume  a 
narrative  called  Ilistoire  memorable  du  dernier 
Voyage  faict  pjar  le  Capitaine  Jean  Ribaut.     It  is 


HUGUENOTS  IN  FLORIDA.  5 

of  no  original  value,  being  compiled  from  Laudon- 
niere  and  Challeux. 

Une  Requete  au  Roy,  faite  en  forme  de  Com- 
plainte  (1566).  This  is  a  petition  for  redress  to 
Charles  the  Ninth  from  the  relatives  of  the  French 
massacred  in  Florida  by  the  Spaniards.  It  re- 
counts many  incidents  of  that  tragedy. 

La  Rejjrinse  de  la  Floride  'par  le  Cappitaine 
Gourgue.  This  is  a  manuscript  in  the  Biblio- 
theque  Nationale,  printed  in  the  Recueil  of  Ter- 
naux-Compans.  It  contains  a  detailed  account 
of  the  remarkable  expedition  of  Dominique  de 
Gourgues  against  the  Spaniards  in  Florida  in 
1567-68. 

Charlevoix,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France, 
speaks  of  another  narrative  of  this  expedition  in 
manuscript,  preserved  in  the  Gourgues  family. 
A  copy  of  it,  made  in  1831  by  the  Vicomte  de 
Gourgues,  has  been  placed  at  the  writer's  disposal. 

Popeliniere,  De  Thou,  Wytfleit,  D'Aubigne,  De 
Laet,  Brantome,  Lescarbot,  Champlain,  and  other 
writers  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
have  told  or  touched  upon  the  story  of  the  Hugue- 
nots in  Florida ;  but  they  all  draw  their  infor- 
mation from  one  or  more  of  the  sources  named 
above. 

Lettres  et  Papier s  d'Estat  du  Sieur  de  Forquevaidx 
(Bibliotheque  Nationale).  These  include  the  cor- 
respondence of  the  French  and  Spanish  courts 
concerning  the  massacre  of  the  Huguenots.  They 
are  printed  by  Gaffarel  in  his  Histoire  de  la  Flo- 
ride  Francaise. 


6  HUGUENOTS  IN  FLORIDA. 

The  Spanish  authorities  are  the  following  :  — 

Barcia,  (Cardenas  y  Cano,)  Ensayo  Cronologico 
para  la  Historia  General  de  la  Florida  (Madrid, 
1723).  This  annalist  had  access  to  original  docu- 
ments of  great  interest.  Some  of  them  are  used 
as  material  for  his  narrative,  others  are  copied 
entire.  Of  these,  the  most  remarkable  is  that  of 
Sol  is  de  las  Meras,  MemoiHal  de  todas  las  Jorna- 
das  de  la  Conquista  de  la  Florida. 

Francisco  Lopez  de  Mendoza  Grajales,  Relacio7i 
de  la  Jornada  de  Pedro  llenendez  de  Aviles  en 
la  Florida  {Documentos  Ineditos  del  Arckivo  de 
Indias,  III.  441).  A  French  translation  of  this 
journal  will  be  found  in  the  Recueil  de  Pieces  sur 
la  Floride  of  Ternaux-Compans.  Mendoza  was 
chaplain  of  the  expedition  commanded  by  Menen- 
dez  de  Aviles,  and,  like  Solis,  he  was  an  eye- 
witness of  the  events  which  he  relates. 

Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,  Siete  Cartas  escritas 
al  Rey,  Anos  de  1565  y  1566,  MSS.  These  are 
the  despatches  of  the  Adelantado  Menendez  to 
Philip  the  Second.  They  were  procured  for  the 
writer,  together  with  other  documents,  from  the 
archives  of  Seville,  and  their  contents  are  now 
for  the  first  time  made  public.  They  consist  of 
seventy-two  closely  written  foolscap  pages,  and 
are  of  the  highest  interest  and  value  as  regards 
the  present  subject,  confirming  and  amplifying 
the  statements  of  Solis  and  Mendoza,  and  giving 
new  and  curious  information  with  respect  to  the 
designs  of  Spain  upon  the  continent  of  North 
America. 


HUGUENOTS   IN   FLORIDA.  7 

It  is  unnecessary  to  specify  the  authorities  for 
the  introductory  and  subordinate  portions  of  the 
narrative. 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Buckingham 
Smith,  for  procuring  copies  of  documents  from 
the  archives  of  Spain ;  to  Mr.  Bancroft,  the  his- 
torian of  the  United  States,  for  the  use  of  the 
Vicomte  de  Gourgues's  copy  of  the  journal  de- 
scribing the  expedition  of  his  ancestor  against 
the  Spaniards ;  and  to  Mr.  Charles  Russell  Lowell, 
of  the  Boston  Athenseum,  and  Mr.  John  Langdon 
Sibley,  Librarian  of  Harvard  College,  for  obliging 
aid  in  consulting  books  and  papers. 

The  portrait  at  the  beginning  of  this  volume  is 
a  fac-simile  from  an  old  Spanish  engraving,  of 
undoubted  authenticity.  This  also  was  obtained 
through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Buckingham  Smith. 


HUGUENOTS    IN    FLOEIDA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1512-1561. 
EARLY  SPANISH  ADVENTURE. 

Spanish  Voyagers.  —  Romance  and  Avarice.  —  Ponce  de  Leon. — 
The  Fountain  of  Youth  and   the   River  Jordan.  —  Florida 

DISCOVERED. PaMPHILO    DE    NaRVAEZ.  HeRNANDO    DE    SoTO. 

His  Career.  —  His  Death.  —  Succeeding  Voyagers.  —  Spanish 
Claim  to  Florida.  —  Spanish  Jealousy  of  France. 

Towards  the  close  of  tlie  fifteenth  century, 
Spain  achieved  her  final  triumph  over  the  infidels 
of  Granada,  and  made  her  name  glorious  through 
all  generations  by  the  discovery  of  America.  The 
religious  zeal  and  romantic  daring  which  a  long 
course  of  Moorish  wars  had  called  forth  were  now 
exalted  to  redoubled  fervor.  Every  ship  from  the 
New  World  came  freighted  with  marvels  which 
put  the  fictions  of  chivalry  to  shame ;  and  to  the 
Spaniard  of  that  day  America  was  a  region  of 
wonder  and  mystery,  of  vague  and  magnificent 
promise.  Thither  adventurers  hastened,  thirsting 
for  glory  and  for  gold,  and  often  mingling  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  crusader  and  the  valor  of  the 
knight-errant  with  the  bigotry  of  inquisitors  and 
the  rapacity  of  pirates.     They  roamed  over  land 


10  EARLY   SPANISH  ADVENTURE.  [1513, 

and  sea ;  they  climbed  unknown  mountains,  sur- 
veyed unknown  oceans,  pierced  the  sultry  intrica- 
cies of  tropical  forests ;  while  from  year  to  year 
and  from  day  to  day  new  wonders  were  unfolded, 
new  islands  and  archipelagoes,  new  regions  of 
gold  and  pearl,  and  barbaric  empires  of  more  than 
Oriental  wealth.  The  extravagance  of  hope  and 
the  fever  of  adventure  knew  no  bounds.  Nor  is 
it  surprising  that  amid  such  waking  marvels  the 
imagination  should  run  wild  in  romantic  dreams ; 
that  between  the  possible  and  the  impossible  the 
line  of  distinction  should  be  but  faintly  drawn,  and 
that  men  should  be  found  ready  to  stake  life  and 
honor  in  pursuit  of  the  most  insane  fantasies. 

Such  a  man  was  the  veteran  cavalier  Juan  Ponce 
de  Leon.  Greedy  of  honors  and  of  riches,  he  em- 
l)arked  at  Porto  Rico  with  three  brigantines,  bent 
on  schemes  of  discovery.  But  that  which  gave 
the  chief  stimulus  to  his  enterprise  was  a  story, 
current  among  the  Indians  of  Cuba  and  Hispan- 
iola,  that  on  the  island  of  Bimini,  said  to  be  one 
of  the  Bahamas,  there  was  a  fountain  of  such  vir- 
tue, that,  bathing  in  its  waters,  old  men  resumed 
their  youth. ^     It  was  said,   moreover,  that  on  a 

1  Herrera,  Hist.  General,  Dec.  I.  Lib.  IX.  c.  11;  De  Laet,  Novns  Orbis, 
Lib.  I.  c.  16;  Garcilaso,  Hist,  de  la  Florida,  Part  I.  Lib.  I.  c.  3 ;  Gomara, 
Hist.  Gen.  des  Indes  Occident.ales,  Lib.  II.  c.  10.  Compare  Peter  Martyr, 
De  Rebus  Oceanicis,  Dec.  VII.  c.  7,  who  says  that  the  fountain  was  in 
Florida. 

The  story  has  an  explanation  sufficiently  characteristic,  having  been 
.suggested,  it  is  said,  liy  the  beauty  of  the  native  women,  which  none 
could  resist,  and  which  kindled 'the  fires  of  youth  in  the  veins  of  age. 

The  terms  of  Ponce  de  Leon's  bargain  with  the  King  are  set  forth  in 
the  MS.  Capifulacion  con  Juan  Ponce  sohre  Biminj/.  He  was  to  liave 
exclusive  right  to  the  island,  settle  it  at  his  own  cost,  and  be  called  Ade- 


1528.]  PONCE  DE   LEON.  11 

neighboring  shore  might  be  found  a  river  gifted 
with  the  same  beneficent  property,  and  believed 
by  some  to  be  no  other  than  the  Jordan.-^  Ponce 
de  Leon  found  the  island  of  Bimini,  but  not  the 
fountain.  Farther  westward,  in  the  latitude  of 
thirty  degrees  and  eight  minutes,  he  approached 
an  unknown  land,  which  he  named  Florida,  and, 
steering  southward,  explored  its  coast  as  far  as 
the  extreme  point  of  the  peninsula,  when,  after 
some  farther  explorations,  he  retraced  his  course 
to  Porto  Rico. 

Ponce  de  Leon  had  not  regained  his  ^^outh,  but 
his  active  spirit  was  unsubdued. 

Nine  years  later  he  attempted  to  plant  a  colony 
in  Florida ;  the  Indians  attacked  him  fiercely ;  he 
was  mortally  wounded,  and  died  soon  afterwards 
in  Cuba.^ 

The  voyages  of  Garay  and  Vasquez  de  Ayllon 
threw  new  light  on  the  discoveries  of  Ponce,  and 
the  general  outline  of  the  coasts  of  Florida  became 
known  to  the  Spaniards.^  Meanwhile,  Cortes  had 
conquered  Mexico,  and  the  fame  of  that  iniquitous 
but  magnificent  exploit  rang  through  all  Spain. 
Many  an  impatient  cavalier  burned  to  achieve  a 
kindred   fortune.      To   the   excited  fancy  of   the 

lantado  of  Bimini ;  but  the  King  was  to  build  and  hold  forts  there,  send 
agents  to  divide  the  Indians  among  the  settlers,  and  receive  first  a  tenth, 
afterwards  a  fifth,  of  the  gold. 

^  Fontanedo  in  Ternaux-Compans,  Recueil  snr  la  Floride,  18,  19,  42. 
Compare  Herrera,  Dec.  I.  Lib.  IX.  c.  12.  In  allusion, to  this  belief,  the 
name  Jordan  was  given  eight  years  afterwards  by  Ayllon  to  a  river  of 
South  Carolina. 

2  Hakluyt,  Voyages,  V.  333 ;  Barcia,  Ensai/o  Cronohgico,  5. 

3  Peter  Martyr  in  Hakluyt,  V.  333 ;  De  Last,  Lib.  IV.  c.  2. 


12  EARLY   SPANISH  ADVENTURE.  [1528. 

Spaniards  the  unknown  land  of  Florida  seemed 
the  seat  of  surpassing  wealth,  and  Pamphilo  de 
Narvaez  essayed  to  possess  himself  of  its  fancied 
treasures.  Landing  on  its  shores,  and  proclaiming 
destruction  to  the  Indians  unless  they  acknowl- 
edged the  sovereignty  of  the  Pope  and  the  Em- 
peror,^ he  advanced  into  the  forests  with  three 
hundred  men.  Nothing  could  exceed  their  suffer- 
ings. Nowhere  could  they  find  the  gold  they  came 
to  seek.  The  village  of  Appalache,  where  they 
hoped  to  gain  a  rich  booty,  offered  nothing  but  a 
few  mean  wigwams.  Tlie  horses  gave  out,  and 
the  famished  soldiers  fed  upon  their  flesh.  The 
men  sickened,  and  the  Indians  unceasingly  harassed 
their  march.  At  length,  after  two  hundred  and 
eighty  leagues^  of  wandering,  they  found  them- 
selves on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  desperately  put  to  sea  in  such  crazy  boats  as 
their  skill  and  means  could  construct.  Cold,  dis- 
ease, famine,  thirst,  and  the  fury  of  the  waves, 
melted  them  away.  Narvaez  himself  perished, 
and  of  his  wretched  followers  no  more  than  four 
escaped,  rea.ching  by  land,  after  years  of  vicissi- 
tude, the  Christian  settlements  of  New  Spain.^ 

1  Sommation  mix  Habitants  de  la  Floride,  in  Ternaux-Compans,  1. 

2  Their  own  exaggerated  reckoning.  The  journey  was  probably  from 
Tampa  Ray  to  the  Appalachicola,  by  a  circuitous  route. 

3  Narrative  of  Alvar  Nuiiez  Cabe(;a  de  Vaca,  second  in  command  to 
Narvaez,  translated  by  Ruckingham  Smith.  Cabe^a  de  Vaca  was  one  of 
the  four  who  escaped,  and,  after  living  for  years  among  the  tribes  of 
Mississippi,  crossed  the  river  Mississippi  near  Memphis,  journeyed  west- 
ward by  the  waters  of  the  Arkansas  and  Red  River  to  New  Mexico  and 
Chihuahua,  thence  to  Cinaloa  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  and  thence  to 
Mexico.  The  narrative  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  early 
relations.     See  also  Ramusio,  III.  310,  and  Purchas,  IV.  1499,  where  a 


1539.]  HERNANDO   DE   SOTO.  13 

The  interior  of  the  vast  country  then  compre- 
hended under  the  name  of  Florida  still  remained 
unexplored.  The  Spanish  voyager,  as  his  caravel 
ploughed  the  adjacent  seas,  might  give  full  scope 
to  his  imagination,  and  dream  that  beyond  the 
long,  low  margin  of  forest  which  bounded  his 
horizon  lay  hid  a  rich  harvest  for  some  future 
conqueror ;  perhaps  a  second  Mexico  with  its  royal 
palace  and  sacred  pyramids,  or  another  Cuzco  with 
its  temple  of  the  Sun,  encircled  with  a  frieze  of 
gold.  Haunted  by  such  visions,  the  ocean  chivalry 
of  Spain  could  not  long  stand  idle. 

Hernando  de  Soto  was  the  companion  of  Pizarro 
in  the  conquest  of  Peru.  He  had  come  to  America 
a  needy  adventurer,  with  no  other  fortune  than  his 
sword  and  target.  But  his  exploits  had  given  him 
fame  and  fortune,  and  he  appeared  at  court  with 
the  retinue  of  a  nobleman.^  Still,  his  active  ener- 
gies could  not  endure  repose,  and  his  avarice  and 
ambition  goaded  him  to  fresh  enterprises.  He 
asked  and  obtained  permission  to  conquer  Florida. 
While  this  design  was  in  agitation,  Cabega  de 
Vaca,  one  of  those  who  had  survived  the  expedi- 
tion of  Narvaez,  appeared  in  Spain,  and  for  pur- 
poses of  his  own  spread  abroad  the  mischievous 
falsehood,  that  Florida  was  the  richest  country  yet 
discovered.^     De  Soto's  plans  were  embraced  with 

portion  of  Cabefa  de  Vaca  is  given.  Also,  Garcilaso,  Part  I.  Lib.  I.  c.  3 ; 
Gomara,  Lib.  II.  c.  11;  De  Laet,  Lib.  IV.  c.  3;  Barcia,  Ensaijo  Crono- 
logico,  19. 

^  Relation  of  the  Portuguese  Gentleman  o/Elvas,  c.  1.  See  Descobrhnienta 
da  Florida,  c.  1,  and  Ilakluyt,  V.  483. 

2  Relation  of  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas,  c.  2. 


14  EAELY   SPANISH  ADVENTURE.  [1539 

enthusiasm.  Nobles  and  gentlemen  contended  for 
the  privilege  of  joining  his  standard ;  and,  setting 
sail  with  an  ample  armament,  he  landed  at  the 
Bay  of  Espiritu  Santo,  now  Tampa  Bay,  in  Florida, 
with  six  hundred  and  twenty  chosen  men,^  a  band 
as  gallant  and  well  appointed,  as  eager  in  purpose 
and  audacious  in  hope,  as  ever  trod  the  shores  of 
the  New  World.  The  clangor  of  trumpets,  the 
neighing  of  horses,  the  fluttering  of  pennons,  the 
glittering  of  helmet  and  lance,  startled  the  ancient 
forest  with  unwonted  greeting.  Amid  this  pomp 
of  chivalry,  religion  was  not  forgotten.  The  sacred 
vessels  and  vestments  with  bread  and  wine  for  the 
Eucharist  were  carefully  provided ;  and  De  Soto 
himself  declared  that  the  enterprise  was  under- 
taken for  God  alone,  and  seemed  to  be  the  object 
of  His  especial  care.^  These  devout  marauders 
could  not  neglect  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
Indians  whom  they  had  come  to  plunder;  and 
besides  fetters  to  bind,  and  bloodhounds  to  hunt 
them,  they  brought  priests  and  monks  for  the 
saving  of  their  souls. 

The  adventurers  began  their  march.  Their  story 
has  been  often  told.  For  month  after  month  and 
year  after  year,  the  procession  of  priests  and  cava- 
liers, crossbowmen,  arquebusiers,  and  Indian  cap- 
tives laden  w^ith  the  baggage,  still   wandered  on 

1  Relation  of  Bkdma,  in  Ternaux-Coinpans,  51.  The  Gentleman  of 
Elvas  saj's  in  round  numbers  six  hundred.  Garciiaso  de  la  Vega,  who  is 
unworthy  of  credit,  makes  tlie  number  much  greater. 

2  Letter  from  De  Soto  to  the  Municipality  of  Santiago,  dated  at  the 
Harbor  of  Espiritu  Santo,  9  July,  1539.  See  Ternaux-Compans,  Floride, 
43. 


1541.]  ADVENTURES  OF  DE  SOTO.  15 

through  wild  and  boundless  wastes,  lured  hither 
and  thither  by  the  ignis-fatuus  of  their  hopes. 
They  traversed  great  portions  of  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama, and  Mississippi,  everywhere  inflicting  and 
enduring  misery,  but  never  approaching  their 
phantom  El  Dorado.  At  length,  in  the  third  year 
of  their  journeying,  they  reached  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi,  a  hundred  and  thirty-two  years  before 
its  second  discovery  by  Marquette.  One  of  their 
number  describes  the  great  river  as  almost  half  a 
league  wide,  deep,  rapid,  and  constantly  rolling 
down  trees  and  drift-wood  on  its  turbid  current.^ 

The  Spaniards  crossed  over  at  a  point  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Arkansas.  They  advanced  westward, 
but  found  no  treasures,  —  nothing  indeed  but  hard- 
ships, and  an  Indian  enemy,  furious,  writes  one  of 
their  officers,  "  as  mad  dogs."  ^  They  heard  of  a 
country  towards  the  north  where  maize  could  not 
be  cultivated  because  the  vast  herds  of  wild  cattle 
devoured  it.^  They  penetrated  so  far  that  they 
entered  the  range  of  the  roving  prairie  tribes ;  for, 
one  day,  as  they  pushed  their  way  with  difficulty 
across  great  plains  covered  with  tall,  rank  grass, 
they  met  a  band  of  savages  who  dwelt  in  lodges  of 
skins  sewed  together,  subsisting  on  game  alone, 
and  wandering  perpetually  from  place  to  place.* 
Finding  neither  gold  nor  the  South  Sea,  for  both  of 

1  Portufjuese  Relation,  c.  22.  2  Biedma,  95. 

3  Portuguese  Relation,  c.  24.  A  still  earlier  mention  of  the  bison 
occurs  in  the  journal  of  Cabe^a  de  Vaca.  Thevet,  in  his  Sinrjulnrites, 
1558,  gives  a  picture  intended  to  represent  a  bison-bull.  Coronado  saw 
this  animal  in  1 540,  but  was  not,  as  some  assert,  its  first  discoverer. 

4  Biedma,  91. 


16  EAELY   SPANISH  ADVENTURE.  [1542. 

which  they  had  hoped,  they  returned  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi. 

De  Soto,  says  one  of  those  who  accompanied 
him,  was  a  "  stern  man,  and  of  few  words."  Even 
in  the  midst  of  reverses,  his  will  had  been  law 
to  his  followers,  and  he  had  sustained  himself 
through  the  depths  of  disappointment  with  the  en- 
ergy of  a  stubborn  pride.  But  his  hour  was  come. 
He  fell  into  deep  dejection,  followed  by  an  attack 
of  fever,  and  soon  after  died  miserably.  To  pre- 
serve his  body  from  the  Indians,  his  followers 
sank  it  at  midnight  in  the  river,  and  the  sullen 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  buried  his  ambition  and 
his  hopes.^ 

The  adventurers  were  now,  with  few  exceptions, 
disgusted  with  the  enterprise,  and  longed  only  to 
escape  from  the  scene  of  their  miseries.  After  a 
vain  attempt  to  reach  Mexico  by  land,  they  again 
turned  back  to  the  Mississippi,  and  labored,  with 
all  the  resources  which  their  desperate  necessity 
could  suggest,  to  construct  vessels  in  which  they 
might  make  their  way  to  some  Christian  settle- 
ment. Their  condition  was  most  forlorn.  Few 
of  their  horses  remained  alive  ;  their  baggage  had 
been  destroyed  at  the  burning  of  the  Indian  town 
of  Mavila,  and  many  of  the  soldiers  were  without 
armor  and  without  weapons.  In  place  of  the  gal- 
lant array  which,  more  than  three  years  before, 
had  left  the  harbor  of  Espiritu  Santo,  a  company 
of  sickly  and  starving  men  were  laboring  among 
the  swampy  forests  of  the  Mississippi,  some  clad 

1  Portuguese  Relation,  c.  30. 


1542-58.]  GUIDO   DE   LAS  BAZARES.  17 

in  skinSj  and  some  in  mats  woven  from  a  kind  of 
wild  vine.^ 

Seven  brigantines  were  finished  and  launched ; 
and,  trusting  their  lives  on  board  these  frail  vessels, 
they  descended  the  Mississippi,  running  the  gant- 
let between  hostile  tribes,  who  fiercely  attacked 
them.  Reaching  the  Gulf,  though  not  without 
the  loss  of  eleven  of  their  number,  they  made  sail 
for  the  Spanish  settlement  on  the  River  Panuco, 
where  they  arrived  safely,  and  where  the  inhab- 
itants met  them  with  a  cordial  welcome.  Three 
hundred  and  eleven  men  thus  escaped  with  life, 
leaving  behind  them  the  bones  of  their  comrades 
strewn  broadcast  through  the  wilderness.^ 

De  Soto's  fate  proved  an  insufficient  warning, 
for  those  were  still  found  who  begged  a  fresh 
commission  for  the  conquest  of  Florida ;  but  the 
Emperor  would  not  hear  them.  A  more  pacific 
enterprise  was  undertaken  by  Cancello,  a  Domini- 
can monk,  who  with  several  brother  ecclesiastics 
undertook  to  convert  the  natives  to  the  true  faith, 
but  was  murdered  in  the  attempt.^  Nine  years 
later,  a  plan  was  formed  for  the  colonization  of 
Florida,  and  Guido  de  las  Bazares  sailed  to  explore 
the  coasts,  and  find  a  spot  suitable  for  the  estab- 
lishment.*     After  his   return,    a   squadron,   com- 


^  Portuguese  Relation,  c.  20.     See  Hakluyt,  V.  515. 

2  I  have  followed  the  accounts  of  Biedma  and  the  Portuguese  of  Elvas, 
rejecting  the  romantic  narrative  of  Garcilaso,  in  which  fiction  is  hopelessly 
mingled  with  truth. 

^  Relation  of  Beteta,  Ternaux-Compans,  107;  Documentos  In^ditos, 
XXVI.  340.     Comp.  Garcilaso,  Part  I.  Lib.  L  c.  3. 

*  The  spirit  of  this  and  other  Spanish  enterprises  may  be  gathered 

2 


18  EARLY   SPANISH  ADVENTURE.  [1513-58. 

manded  by  Angel  de  Villafane,  and  freighted  with 
supplies  and  men,  put  to  sea  from  San  Juan  d'Ul- 
loa;  but  the  elements  were  adverse,  and  the  re- 
sult was  a  total  failure.^  Not  a  Spaniard  had  yet 
gained  foothold  in  Florida. 

That  name,  as  the  Spaniards  of  that  day  under- 
stood it,  comprehended  the  whole  country  extend- 
ino;  from  the  Atlantic  on  the  east  to  the  lono-itude 
of  New  Mexico  on  the  west,  and  from  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  the  River  of  Palms  indefinitely  north- 
ward towards  the  polar  sea.^  This  vast  territory 
was  claimed  by  Spain  in  right  of  the  discoveries  of 
Columbus,  the  grant  of  the  Pope,  and  the  various 
expeditions  mentioned  above.     England  claimed  it 

from  the  following  passage  in  an  address  to  tlie  King,  signed  by  Dr.  Pedro 
de  Santander,  and  dated  15  July,  1557  :  — 

"  It  is  lawful  that  your  Majesty,  like  a  good  shepherd,  appointed  by 
the  hand  of  the  Eternal  Father,  should  tend  and  lead  out  your  sheep, 
since  the  Holy  Spirit  has  shown  spreading  pastures  whereon  are  feeding 
lost  sheep  which  have  been  snatched  away  by  the  dragon,  the  Demon. 
These  pastures  are  the  New  World,  wherein  is  comprised  Florida,  now 
in  possession  of  the  Demon,  and  here  he  makes  himself  adored  and  re- 
vered. This  is  the  Land  of  Promise,  possessed  by  idolaters,  the  Amorite, 
Amalekite,  Moabite,  Canaanite.  This  is  the  land  promised  by  the  Eternal 
Father  to  the  faithful,  since  we  are  commanded  by  God  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  to  take  it  from  them,  being  idolaters,  and,  by  reason  of  their 
idolatry  and  sin,  to  put  them  all  to  the  knife,  leaving  no  living  thing  save 
maidens  and  children,  their  cities  robbed  and  sacked,  their  walls  and 
houses  levelled  to  the  earth." 

The  writer  then  goes  into  detail,  proposing  to  occupy  Florida  at  vari- 
ous points  with  from  one  thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  colonists,  found  a 
city  to  be  called  Philippina,  also  another  at  Tuscaloosa,  to  be  called  Csesa- 
rea,  another  at  Tallahassee,  and  another  at  Tampa  Bay,  where  he  thinks 
many  slaves  could  be  had.      Carta  del  Doctor  Pedro  de  Santander. 

1  The  papers  relating  to  these  abortive  expeditions  are  preserA'ed  by 
Ternaux-Compans. 

2  Garcilaso,  Part  I.  Lib.  I.  c  2;  Herrera  in  Purchas,  III.  868;  De 
Laet,  Lib.  IV.  c.  13.  Barcia,  Ensai/o  Cronolor/ico,  An.  MDCXI.,  .speaks 
of  Quebec  as  a  part  of  Florida.  In  a  map  of  the  time  of  Henry  II.  of 
France,  all  North  America  is  named  Terra  Florida. 


1541.]  SPANISH  JEALOUSY.  19 

in  right  of  the  discoveries  of  Cabot ;  while  France 
could  advance  no  better  title  than  might  be  derived 
from  the  voyage  of  Verazzano  and  vague  traditions 
of  earlier  visits  of  Breton  adventurers. 

With  restless  jealousy  Spain  watched  the  domain 
which  she  could  not  occupy,  and  on  France  espe- 
cially she  kept  an  eye  of  deep  distrust.  When, 
in  1541,  Cartier  and  Roberval  essayed  to  plant  a 
colony  in  the  part  of  ancient  Spanish  Florida  now 
called  Canada,  she  sent  spies  and  fitted  out  cara- 
vels to  watch  that  abortive  enterprise.^  Her  fears 
proved  just.  Canada,  indeed,  was  long  to  remain 
a  solitude ;  but,  despite  the  Papal  bounty  gifting 
Spain  with  exclusive  ownership  of  a  hemisphere, 
France  and  Heresy  at  length  took  root  in  the 
sultry  forests  of  modern  Florida. 

1  See  various  papers  on  this  subject  in  the  Coleccion  de  Varios  Docu- 
mentos  of  Buckingham  Smith. 


CHAPTER    IT. 

1550-1558. 

VILLEGAGNON. 

Spain  and  France  in  the   Sixteenth  Centcrt.  —  Gaspar  de  Co- 

LIGNY. ViLLEGAGNON. HiS     EaRLY    EXPLOITS. HiS     SCHEME 

OF  A  Protestant  Colony.  —  Huguenots  at  Rio  Janeiro.  — 
Polemics.  —  Tyranny  of  Villegagnon.  —  The  Ministers  ex- 
pelled.—  The  Colony  ruined. 

In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spain 
was  the  incubus  of  Europe.  Gloomy  and  porten- 
tous, she  chilled  the  world  with  her  baneful  shadow. 
Her  old  feudal  liberties  were  gone,  absorbed  in  the 
despotism  of  Madrid.  A  tyranny  of  monks  and 
inquisitors,  with  their  swarms  of  spies  and  inform- 
ers, their  racks,  their  dungeons,  and  their  fagots, 
crushed  all  freedom  of  thought  or  speech ;  and, 
while  the  Dominican  held  his  reign  of  terror  and 
force,  the  deeper  Jesuit  guided  the  mind  from 
infancy  into  those  narrow  depths  of  bigotry  from 
which  it  was  never  to  escape.  Commercial  despot- 
ism was  joined  to  political  and  religious  despotism. 
The  hands  of  the  government  were  on  every  branch 
of  industry.  Perverse  regulations,  uncertain  and 
ruinous  taxes,  monopolies,  encouragements,  prohi- 
bitions, restrictions,  cramped  the  national  energy. 
Mistress  of  the  Indies,  Spain  swarmed  with  beg- 
gars.    Yet,  verging  to  decay,  she  had  an  ominous 


1550.]  SPAIN  AND  FEANCE.  21 

and  appalling  strength.  Her  condition  was  that 
of  an  athletic  man  penetrated  with  disease,  which 
had  not  yet  unstrung  the  thews  and  sinews  formed 
in  his  days  of  vigor.  Philip  the  Second  could  com- 
mand the  service  of  warriors  and  statesmen  devel- 
oped in  the  ye^ars  that  were  past.  The  gathered 
energies  of  ruined  feudalism  were  wielded  by  a 
single  hand.  The  mysterious  King,  in  his  den  in 
the  Escorial,  dreary  and  silent,  and  bent  like  a 
scribe  over  his  papers,  was  the  type  and  the  cham- 
pion of  arbitrary  power.  More  than  the  Pope  him- 
self, he  was  the  head  of  Catholicity.  In  doctrine 
and  in  deed,  the  inexorable  bigotry  of  Madrid  was 
ever  in  advance  of  Rome. 

Not  so  with  France.  She  was  full  of  life,  —  a 
discordant  and  struggling  vitality.  Her  monks 
and  priests,  unlike  those  of  Spain,  were  rarely 
either  fanatics  or  bigots ;  yet  not  the  less  did  they 
ply  the  rack  and  the  fagot,  and  howl  for  heretic 
blood.  Their  all  was  at  stake :  their  vast  power, 
their  bloated  wealth,  were  wrapped  up  in  the  an- 
cient faith.  Men  were  burned,  and  women  buried 
alive.  All  was  in  vain.  To  the  utmost  bounds 
of  France,  the  leaven  of  the  Reform  was  working. 
The  Huguenots,  fugitives  from  torture  and  death, 
found  an  asylum  at  Geneva,  their  city  of  refuge, 
gathering  around  Calvin,  their  great  high-priest. 
Thence  intrepid  colporteurs,  their  lives  in  their 
hands,  bore  the  Bible  and  the  psalm-book  to  city, 
hamlet,  and  castle,  to  feed  the  rising  flame. .  The 
scattered  churches,  pressed  by  a  common  dan- 
ger, began  to  organize.     An  ecclesiastical  republic 


22  VILLEGAGXON.  [1550. 

spread  its  ramifications  through  France,  and  grew 
underground  to  a  vigorous  life,  —  pacific  at  the 
outset,  for  the  great  body  of  its  members  were 
the  quiet  hourgeoisie,  by  habit,  as  by  faith,  averse 
to  violence.  Yet  a  potent  fraction  of  the  war- 
like noblesse  were  also  of  the  new  faith  ;  and  above 
them  all,  pre-eminent  in  character  as  in  station, 
stood  Gaspar  de  Coligny,  Admiral  of  France. 

The  old  palace  of  the  Louvre,  reared  by  the 
"Roi  Chevalier"  on  the  site  of  those  dreary  feudal 
towers  which  of  old  had  guarded  the  banks  of 
the  Seine,  held  within  its  sculptured  masonry  the 
worthless  brood  of  Valois.  Corruption  and  in- 
trigue ran  riot  at  the  court.  Factious  nobles, 
bishops,  and  cardinals,  with  no  God  but  pleasure 
and  ambition,  contended  around  the  throne  or  the 
sick-bed  of  the  futile  King.  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
with  her  stately  form,  her  mean  spirit,  her  bad 
heart,  and  her  fathomless  depths  of  duplicity, 
strove  by  every  subtle  art  to  hold  the  balance  of 
power  among  them.  The  bold,  pitiless,  insatiable 
Guise,  and  his  brother  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  the 
incarnation  of  falsehood,  rested  their  ambition  on 
the  Catholic  party.  Their  army  was  a  legion  of 
priests,  and  the  black  swarms  of  countless  monas- 
teries, who  by  the  distribution  of  alms  held  in 
pay  the  rabble  of  cities  and  starving  peasants  on 
the  lands  of  impoverished  nobles.  Montmorency, 
Conde,  and  Navarre  leaned  towards  the  Reform,  — 
doubtful  and  inconstant  chiefs,  whose  faith  weighed 
light  against  their  interests.  Yet,  amid  vacilla- 
tion,  selfishness,   weakness,  treachery,   one    great 


1541.]  HIS   EARLY  EXPLOITS.  23 

man  was  like  a  tower  of  trust,  and  this  was  Gas- 
par  de  Coligny. 

Firm  in  his  convictions,  steeled  by  perils  and 
endurance,  calm,  sagacious,  resolute,  grave  even  to 
severity,  a  valiant  and  redoubted  soldier,  Coligny 
looked  abroad  on  the  gathering  storm  and  read  its 
danger  in  advance.  He  saw  a  strange  depravity 
of  manners ;  bribery  and  violence  overriding  jus- 
tice ;  discontented  nobles,  and  peasants  ground 
down  with  taxes.  In  the  midst  of  this  rottenness, 
the  Calvinistic  churches,  patient  and  stern,  were 
fast  gathering  to  themselves  the  better  life  of  the 
nation.  Among  and  around  them  tossed  the  surges 
of  clerical  hate.  Luxurious  priests  and  libertine 
monks  saw  their  disorders  rebuked  by  the  grave 
virtues  of  the  Protestant  zealots.  Their  broad 
lands,  their  rich  endowments,  their  vessels  of  silver 
and  of  gold,  their  dominion  over  souls,  —  in  itself 
a  revenue,  —  were  all  imperilled  by  the  growing 
heresy.  Nor  was  the  Reform  less  exacting,  less 
intolerant,  or,  when  its  hour  came,  less  aggressive 
than  the  ancient  faith.  The  storm  was  thicken- 
ing, and  it  must  burst  soon. 

When  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  beleaguered 
Algiers,  his  camps  w^ere  deluged  by  a  blinding  tem- 
pest, and  at  its  height  the  infidels  made  a  furious 
sally.  A  hundred  Knights  of  Malta,  on  foot,  wear- 
ing over  their  armor  surcoats  of  crimson  blazoned 
with  the  white  cross,  bore  the  brunt  of  the  assault. 
Conspicuous  among  them  was  Nicolas  Durand  de 
Villegagnon.  A  Moorish  cavalier,  rushing  upon 
him,  pierced  his  arm  with  a  lance,  and  wheeled  to 


24  VILLEGAGNON.  [1554. 

repeat  the  blow ;  but  the  knight  leaped  on  the 
infidel,  stabbed  him  with  his  dagger,  flung  him 
from  his  horse,  and  mounted  in  his  place.  Again, 
a  Moslem  host  landed  in  Malta  and  beset  the  Cite 
Notable.  The  garrison  was  weak,  disheartened, 
and  without  a  leader.  Villegagnon  with  six  fol- 
lowers, all  friends  of  his  own,  passed  under  cover 
of  night  through  the  infidel  leaguer,  climbed  the 
walls  by  ropes  lowered  from  above,  took  command, 
repaired  the  shattered  towers,  aiding  with  his  own 
hands  in  the  work,  and  animated  the  garrison  to 
a  resistance  so  stubborn  that  the  besiegers  lost 
heart  and  betook  themselves  to  their  galleys.  No 
less  was  he  an  able  and  accomplished  mariner, 
prominent  among  that  chivalry  of  the  sea  who 
held  the  perilous  verge  of  Christendom  against  the 
Mussulman.  He  claimed  other  laurels  than  those 
of  the  sword.  He  was  a  scholar,  a  linguist,  a  con- 
troversialist, potent  with  the  tongue  and  with  the 
pen,  commanding  in  presence,  eloquent  and  per- 
suasive in  discourse.  Yet  this  Crichton  of  France 
had  proved  himself  an  associate  nowise  desirable. 
His  sleepless  intellect  was  matched  with  a  spirit 
as  restless,  vain,  unstable,  and  ambitious,  as  it  was 
enterprising  and  bold.  Addicted  to  dissent,  and 
enamored  of  polemics,  he  entered  those  forbidden 
fields  of  inquiry  and  controversy  to  which  the  Re- 
form invited  him.  Undaunted  by  his  monastic 
vows,  he  battled  for  heresy  with  tongue  and  pen, 
and  in  the  ear  of  Protestants  professed  himself 
a  Protestant.  As  a  Commander  of  his  Order,  he 
quarrelled  with  the  Grand  Master,  a  domineering 


1554.]  HIS   PROJECTED   COLONY.  25 

Spaniard ;  and,  as  Vice- Admiral  of  Brittany,  he 
was  deep  in  a  feud  with  the  Governor  of  Brest. ^ 
Disgusted  at  home,  his  fancy  crossed  the  seas. 
He  aspired  to  build  for  France  and  himself  an 
empire  amid  the  tropical  splendors  of  Brazil.  Few 
could  match  him  in  the  gift  of  persuasion ;  and 
the  intrepid  seaman  whose  skill  and  valor  had  run 
the  gantlet  of  the  English  fleet,  and  borne  Mary 
Stuart  of  Scotland  in  safety  to  her  espousals  with 
the  Dauphin,^  might  well  be  intrusted  with  a 
charge  of  moment  so  far  inferior.  Henry  the 
Second  was  still  on  the  throne.  The  lance  of 
Montgomery  had  not  yet  rid  France  of  that  inflic- 
tion. To  win  a  share  in  the  rich  domain  of  the 
New  World,  of  which  Portuguese  and  Spanish  arro- 
gance claimed  the  monopoly,  was  the  end  held  by 
Villegagnon  before  the  eyes  of  the  King.  Of  the 
Huguenots,  he  said  not  a  word.  For  Coligny  he 
had  another  language.  He  spoke  of  an  asylum 
for  persecuted  religion,  a  Geneva  in  the  wilder- 
ness, far  from  priests  and  monks  and  Francis  of 

1  Villegagnon  himself  has  left  an  account  in  Latin  of  the  expedition 
against  Algiers  under  the  title,  Caroli  V.  Imperntoris  Expeditio  in  Afri- 
cam  (Paris,  1542).  Also,  an  account  of  the  war  at  Malta,  De  Bello  Me- 
Utens'i  (Paris,  1553). 

He  is  the  subject  of  a  long  and  erudite  treatise  in  Bayle,  Diciionnaire 
Historique.  Notices  of  him  are  also  to  be  found  in  Gue'rin,  Navigateurs 
Fran^ais,  162;  lb.,  i\farins  Illustres,  2-31;  Lescarbot,  Hist,  de  la  Nouv. 
Prance  (1612),  146-217  ;  La  Popeliniere,  Les  Trois  Mondes,  III.  2. 

There  are  extant  against  him  a  number  of  Calvinistic  satires,  in  prose 
and  verse,  —  L'Etrille  de  Nicolas  Durand,  —  La  Suffisance  de  Villcr/ai;/non, 
—  L'Esponsette  des  Armoirie's  de  ViUegaignon,  etc. 

-  This  was  in  1548.  The  English  were  on  the  watch,  but  Villegagnon, 
by  a  union  of  daring  and  skill,  escaped  them,  and  landed  the  future  Queen 
of  Scots,  then  six  years  old,  in  Brittany,  whence  she  was  carried  to  Paris, 
and  affianced  to  the  future  Francis  the  Second. 


26  VILLEGAGNON.  [1555. 

Guise.  The  Admiral  gave  him  a  ready  ear;  if, 
indeed,  he  himself  had  not  first  conceived  the  plan. 
Yet  to  the  King,  an  active  burner  of  Huguenots, 
Coligny  too  urged  it  as  an  enterprise,  not  for  the 
Faith,  but  for  France.  In  secret,  Geneva  was 
made  privy  to  it,  and  Calvin  himself  embraced  it 
with  zeal.  The  enterprise,  in  fact,  had  a  double 
character,  political  as  well  as  religious.  It  was 
the  reply  of  France,  the  most  emphatic  she  had 
yet  made,  to  the  Papal  bull  which  gave  all  the 
western  hemisphere  to  Portugal  and  Spain ;  and, 
as  if  to  point  her  answer,  she  sent,  not  French- 
men only,  but  Protestant  Frenchmen,  to  plant  the 
fleur-de-lis  on  the  shores  of  the  New  World. 

Two  vessels  were  made  ready,  in  the  name  of 
the  King.  The  body  of  the  emigration  was  Hu- 
guenot, mingled  with  young  nobles,  restless,  idle, 
and  poor,  with  reckless  artisans,  and  piratical  sai- 
lors from  the  Norman  and  Breton  seaports.  They 
put  to  sea  from  Havre  on  the  twelfth  of  July, 
1555,  and  early  in  November  saw  the  shores  of 
Brazil.  Entering  the  harbor  of  Rio  Janeiro,  then 
called  Ganabara,  Villegagnon  landed  men  and 
stores  on  an  island,  built  huts,  and  threw  up 
earthworks.  In  anticipation  of  future  triumphs, 
the  whole  continent,  by  a  strange  perversion  of 
language,  was  called  Antarctic  France,  while  the 
fort  received  the  name  of  Coligny. 

Villegagnon  signalized  his  new-born  Protestant- 
ism by  an  intolerable  solicitude  for  the  manners 
and  morals  of  his  followers.  The  whip  and  the 
pillory  requited  the  least  offence.     The  wild  and 


1557.]  HUGUENOTS  AT  RIO  JANEIRO.  27 

discordant  crew,  starved  and  flogged  for  a  season 
into  submission,  conspired  at  length  to  rid  them- 
selves of  him  ;  but  while  they  debated  whether  to 
poison  him,  blow  him  up,  or  murder  him  and  his 
officers  in  their  sleep,  three  Scotch  soldiers,  proba- 
bly Calvinists,  revealed  the  plot,  and  the  vigorous 
hand  of  the  commandant  crushed  it  in  the  bud. 

But  how  was  the  colony  to  subsist  ?  Their 
island  was  too  small  for  culture,  while  the  main- 
land was  infested  with  hostile  tribes,  and  threat- 
ened by  the  Portuguese,  who  regarded  the  French 
occupancy  as  a  violation  of  their  domain. 

Meanwhile,  in  France,  Huguenot  influence,  aided 
by  ardent  letters  sent  home  by  Villegagnon  in  the 
returning  ships,  was  urging  on  the  work.  Nor 
were  the  Catholic  chiefs  averse  to  an  enterprise 
which,  by  colonizing  heresy,  might  tend  to  relieve 
France  of  its  presence.  Another  embarkation  was 
prepared,  in  the  name  of  Henry  the  Second,  under 
Bois-Lecomte,  a  nephew  of  Villegagnon.  Most  of 
the  emigrants  were  Huguenots.  Geneva  sent  a 
large  deputation,  and  among  them  several  minis- 
ters, full  of  zeal  for  their  land  of  promise  and  their 
new  church  in  the  wilderness.  There  were  five 
young  women,  also,  with  a  matron  to  watch  over 
them.  Soldiers,  emigrants,  and  sailors,  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety  in  all,  were  embarked  in  three 
vessels ;  and,  to  the  sound  of  cannon,  drums,  flfes, 
and  trumpets,  they  unfurled  their  sails  at  Hon- 
fieur.  They  were  no  sooner  on  the  high  seas  than 
the  piratical  character  of  the  Norman  sailors,  in  no 
way  exceptional  at  that  day,  began  to  declare  itself. 


28  .  VILLEGAGNON.  [1557. 

They  hailed  every  vessel  weaker  than  themselves, 
pretended  to  be  short  of  provisions,  and  demanded 
leave  to  buy  them ;  then,  boarding  the  stranger, 
plundered  her  from  stem  to  stern.  After  a  pas- 
sage of  four  months,  on  the  ninth  of  March,  1557, 
they  entered  the  port  of  Ganabara,  and  saw  the 
fleur-de-lis  floating  above  the  walls  of  Fort  Coligny. 
Amid  salutes  of  cannon,  the  boats,  crowded  with 
sea-worn  emigrants,  moved  towards  the  landing. 
It  was  an  edifying  scene  when  Villegagnon,  in 
the  picturesque  attire  which  marked  the  warlike 
nobles  of  the  period,  came  down  to  the  shore  to 
greet  the  sombre  ministers  of  Calvin.  With  hands 
uplifted  and  eyes  raised  to  heaven,  he  bade  them 
welcome  to  the  new  asylum  of  the  faithful ;  then 
launched  into  a  long  harangue  full  of  zeal  and 
unction.^  His  discourse  finished,  he  led  the  way 
to  the  dining-hall.  If  the  redundancy  of  spiritual 
aliment  had  surpassed  their  expectations,  the  min- 
isters were  little  prepared  for  the  meagre  provision 


1  De  Lery,  Hlstoria  Navigationis  in  Brasiliam,  (1586,)  43.  De  Lery 
was  one  of  the  ministers.  His  account  is  long  and  very  curious.  His 
work  was  published  in  French,  in  1578  and  1611.  The  Latin  Aversion  has 
appeared  under  several  forms,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the  Second  Part  of 
De  Bry,  decorated  with  a  profusion  of  engravings,  including  portraits  of 
a  great  variety  of  devils,  with  which,  it  seems,  Brazil  was  overrun,  con- 
spicuous among  whom  is  one  with  the  body  of  a  bear  and  the  head  of  a 
man.  This  ungainly  fiend  is  also  depicted  in  the  edition  of  1 586.  The 
conception,  a  novelty  in  demonology,  was  clearly  derived  from  ancient 
representations  of  that  singular  product  of  Brazil,  the  sloth.  In  the  curi- 
ous work  of  Andre  Thevet,  Les  Siiigularites  de  la  France  Antarctique, 
autrement  nominee  Amerique,  published  in  1558,  appears  the  portraiture 
of  this  animal,  the  body  being  that  "  d'un  petit  ours,"  and  the  face  that  of 
an  intelligent  man.  Thevet,  however,  though  a  firm  believer  in  devils  of 
all  kinds,  suspects  nothing  demoniacal  in  his  sloth,  which  he  held  foi 
some  time  in  captivity,  and  describes  as  "  une  beste  assez  estrange." 


1557.]  POLEMICS.  29 

which  awaited  their  temporal  cravings ;  for,  with 
appetites  whetted  by  the  sea,  they  found  them- 
selves  seated  at  a  board  whereof,  as  one  of  them 
complains,  the  choicest  dish  was  a  dried  fish, 
and  the  only  beverage  rain-water.  They  found 
their  consolation  in  the  inward  graces  of  the 
commandant,  whom  they  likened  to  the  Apostle 
Paul. 

For  a  time  all  was  ardor  and  hope.  Men  of 
birth  and  station,  and  the  ministers  themselves, 
labored  with  pick  and  shovel  to  finish  the  fort. 
Every  day  exhortations,  sermons,  prayers,  followed 
in  close  succession,  and  Villegagnon  was  always 
present,  kneeling  on  a  velvet  cushion  brought 
after  him  by  a  page.  Soon,  however,  he  fell  into 
sharp  controversy  with  the  ministers  upon  points 
of  faith.  Among  the  emigrants  was  a  student  of 
the  Sorbonne,  one  Cointac,  between  whom  and  the 
ministers  arose  a  fierce  and  unintermitted  war  of 
words.  Is  it  lawful  to  mix  water  with  the  wine 
of  the  Eucharist  ?  May  the  sacramental  bread  be 
made  of  meal  of  Indian  corn  ?  These  and  similar 
points  of  dispute  filled  the  fort  with  wranglings, 
begetting  cliques,  factions,  and  feuds  without 
number.  Villegagnon  took  part  with  the  student, 
and  between  them  they  devised  a  new  doctrine, 
abhorrent  alike  to  Geneva  and  to  Rome.  The 
advent  of  this  nondescript  heresy  was  the  signal 
of  redoubled  strife.^     The  dogmatic  stiffness  of  the 

^  The  liistor}-  of  these  theological  squabbles  is  given  in  detail  in  the 
Histoire  cJes  CJwses  MemoraUes  ad  venues  en  la  Terre  du  Bre'sil  (Geneve, 
1561).  The  author  was  an  eyewitness.  De  Lery  also  enlarges  upon 
them. 


30  VILLEGAGNON.  [1557. 

Geneva  ministers  chafed  Villegagnon  to  ftiry.  He 
felt  himself,  too,  in  a  false  position.  On  one  side 
he  depended  on  the  Protestant,  Coligny ;  on  the 
other,  he  feared  the  Court.  There  were  Catholics 
in  the  colony  who  might  report  him  as  an  open 
heretic.  On  this  point  his  doubts  were  set  at  rest ; 
for  a  ship  from  France  brought  him  a  letter  from 
the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine,  couched,  it  is  said,  in 
terms  which  restored  him  forthwith  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Church.  Villegagnon  now  affirmed  that 
he  had  been  deceived  in  Calvin,  and  pronounced 
him  a  "  frightful  heretic."  He  became  despotic 
beyond  measure,  and  would  bear  no  opposition. 
The  ministers,  reduced-  nearly  to  starvation,  found 
themselves  under  a  tyranny  worse  than  that  from 
which  they  had  fled. 

At  length  he  drove  them  from  the  fort,  and 
forced  them  to  bivouac  on  the  mainland,  at  the 
risk  of  being  butchered  by  Indians,  until  a  vessel 
loading  with  Brazil-wood  in  the  harbor  should  be 
ready  to  carry  them  back  to  France.  Having 
rid  himself  of  the  ministers,  he  caused  three  of 
the  more  zealous  Calvinists  to  be  seized,  dragged 
to  the  edge  of  a  rock,  and  thrown  into  the  sea.^ 
A  fourth,  equally  obnoxious,  but  who,  being  a 
tailor,  could  ill  be  spared,  was  permitted  to  live 
on  condition  of  recantation.  Then,  mustering 
the  colonists,  he  warned  them  to  shun  the  here- 
sies of  Luther  and  Calvin ;  threatened  that  all 
who  openly  professed  those  detestable  doctrines 
should  share  the    fate  of   their   three    comrades ; 

'  Histoire  des  Choses  ih'morahles,  44. 


1557.]  THE  COLONY   RUINED.  31 

and,    his   harangue   over,   feasted   the   whole   as- 
sembly, in  token,  says  the  narrator,   of  joy  and 

Meanwhile,  in  their  crazy  vessel,  the  banished 
ministers  drifted  slowly  on  their  way.  Storms  fell 
upon  them,  their  provisions  failed,  their  water- 
casks  were  empty,  and,  tossing  in  the  wilderness 
of  waves,  or  rocking  on  the  long  swells  of  subsid- 
ing gales,  they  sank  almost  to  despair.  In  their 
famine  they  chewed  the  Brazil-wood  with  which 
the  vessel  was  laden,  devoured  every  scrap  of 
leather,  singed  and  ate  the  horn  of  lanterns, 
hunted  rats  through  the  hold,  and  sold  them  to 
each  other  at  enormous  prices.  At  length, 
stretched  on  the  deck,  sick,  listless,  attenuated, 
and  scarcely  able  to  move  a  limb,  they  descried 
across  the  waste  of  sea  the  faint,  cloud-like  Ime 
that  marked  the  coast  of  Brittany.  Their  perils 
were  not  past ;  for,  if  we  may  believe  one  of  them, 
Jean  de  Lery,  they  bore  a  sealed  letter  from  Ville- 
gagnon  to  the  magistrates  of  the  first  French  port 
at  which  they  might  arrive.  It  denounced  them 
as  heretics,  worthy  to  be  burned.  Happily,  the 
magistrates  leaned  to  the  Reform,  and  the  malice 
of  the  commandant  failed  of  its  victims. 

Villegagnon  himself  soon  sailed  for  France, 
leaving  the  wretched  colony  to  its  fate.  He  pres- 
ently entered  the  lists  against  Calvin,  and  engaged 
him  in  a  hot  controversial  war,  in  which,  ^ccord- 

1  Histoire  des  Glioses  Memorahles,  46.  Compare  Barre,  Lettres  sur  la 
Navigation  dn  Chevalier  de  Yilleqarjnon  (Paris,  1558).  Original  doca- 
ments  couceruing  Villegagnon  will  be  found  in  Gaffarel,  Bresil  Frangais^ 
Appendix. 


32  VILLEGAGNON.  [1558. 

ing  to  some  of  his  contemporaries,  the  knight 
often  worsted  the  theologian  at  his  own  weapons. 
Before  the  year  1558  was  closed,  Ganabara  fell  a 
prey  to  the  Portuguese.  They  set  upon  it  in  force, 
battered  down  the  fort,  and  slew  the  feeble  garri- 
son, or  drove  them  to  a  miserable  refuge  among 
the  Indians.  Spain  and  Portugal  made  good  their 
claim  to  the  vast  domain,  the  mighty  vegetation, 
and  undeveloped  riches  of  "  Antarctic  France." 


CHAPTER    III. 

1562,  1563. 

JEAN  RIBAUt/ 

The  Huguenot  Party,  its  motley  Character.  —  Ribaut  sails 
FOR  Florida.  —  The  River  of  May.  —  Hopes.  —  Illusions.  — 
Port  Royal.  —  Charlesfort.  —  Frolic.  —  Improvidence.  — 
Famine.  —  Mutiny.  —  Florida  abandoned.  —  Desperation.  — 
Cannibalism. 

In  the  year  1562  a  cloud  of  black  and  deadly 
portent  was  thickening  over  France.  Surely  and 
swiftly  she  glided  towards  the  abyss  of  the  re- 
ligious wars.  None  could  pierce  the  future,  per- 
haps none  dared  to  contemplate  it :  the  wild  rage 
of  fanaticism  and  hate,  friend  grappling  with 
friend,  brother  with  brother,  father  with  son ; 
altars  profaned,  hearthstones  made  desolate,  the 
robes  of  Justice  herself  bedrenched  with  murder. 
In  the  gloom  without  lay  Spain,  imminent  and 
terrible.  As  on  the  hill  by  the  field  of  Dreux,  her 
veteran  bands  of  pikemen,  dark  masses  of  organ- 
ized ferocity,  stood  biding  their  time  while  the 
battle  surged  below,  and  then  swept  downward  to 
the  slaughter,  —  so  did  Spain  watch  and  wait  to 
trample  and  crush  the  hope  of  humanity. 

In  these  days  of  fear,  a  second  Huguenot  colony 
sailed  for  the  New  World.  The  calm,  stern  man 
who  represented  and  led  the  Protestantism  of 
France  felt  to  his  inmost  heart  the  peril  of  the 


34  JEAN   RIBAUT.  [1562. 

time.  He  would  fain  build  u])  a  city  of  refuge 
for  the  persecuted  sect.  Yet  Gaspar  de  Coligny, 
too  high  in  power  and  rank  to  be  openly  assailed, 
was  forced  to  act  with  caution.  He  must  act,  too, 
in  the  name  of  the  Crown,  and  in  virtue  of  his 
office  of  Admiral  of  France.  A  nobleman  and  a 
soldier,  —  for  the  Admiral  of  France  was  no  sea- 
man, —  he  shared  the  ideas  and  habits  of  his 
class ;  nor  is  there  reason  to  believe  him  to  have 
been  in  advance  of  his  time  in  a  knowledge  of  the 
principles  of  successful  colonization.  His  scheme 
promised  a  military  colony,  not  a  free  common- 
wealth. The  Huguenot  party  was  already  a  politi- 
cal as  well  as  a  religious  party.  At  its  foundation 
lay  the  religious  element,  represented  by  Geneva, 
the  martyrs,  and  the  devoted  fugitives  who  sang 
the  psalms  of  Marot  among  rocks  and  caverns. 
Joined  to  these  were  numbers  on  whom  the  faith 
sat  lightly,  whose  hope  was  in  commotion  and 
change.  Of  the  latter,  in  great  part,  was  the 
Huguenot  noblesse,  from  Conde,  who  aspired  to 
the  crown, 

"  Ce  petit  homme  tant  joli, 
Qui  toujoiirs  chante,  toujours  rit," 

to  the  younger  son  of  the  impoverished  seigneur 
whose  patrimony  was  his  sword.  More  than  this, 
the  restless,  the  factious,  and  the  discontented,  be- 
gan to  link  their  fortunes  to  a  party  whose  tri- 
umph would  involve  confiscation  of  the  wealth  of 
the  only  rich  class  in  France.  An  element  of  the 
great  revolution  was  already  mingling  in  the  strife 
of  religions. 


1562.]  SAILS  FOR   FLORIDA.  35 

America  was  still  a  land  of  wonder.  The  an- 
cient spell  still  hung  unbroken  over  the  wild,  vast 
world  of  mystery  beyond  the  sea,  —  a  land  of  ro- 
mance, adventure,  and  gold. 

Fifty-eight  years  later  the  Puritans  landed  on 
the  sands  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  illusion  was 
gone,  —  the  ignis  fatuus  of  adventure,  the  dream 
of  wealth.  The  rugged  wilderness  offered  only  a 
stern  and  hard-won  independence.  In  their  own 
hearts,  and  not  in  the  promptings  of  a  great  leader 
or  the  patronage  of  an  equivocal  government,  their 
enterprise  found  its  birth  and  its  achievement. 
They  were  of  the  boldest  and  most  earnest  of 
their  sect.  There  were  such  among  the  French 
disciples  of  Calvin ;  but  no  Mayflower  ever  sailed 
from  a  port  of  France.  Coligny's  colonists  were 
of  a  different  stamp,  and  widely  different  was 
their  fate. 

An  excellent  seaman  and  stanch  Protestant, 
Jean  Ribaut  of  Dieppe,  commanded  the  expedi- 
tion. Under  him,  besides  sailors,  were  a  band  of 
veteran  soldiers,  and  a  few  young  nobles.  Em- 
barked in  two  of  those  antiquated  craft  whose 
high  poops  and  tub-like  proportions  are  preserved 
in  the  old  engravings  of  De  Bry,  they  sailed  from 
Havre  on  the  eighteenth  of  February,  1562.^  They 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  on  the  thirtieth  of  April, 
in  the  latitude  of  twenty-nine  and  a  half  degrees, 
saw  the  long,  low  line  where  the  wilderness  of 
waves  met  the  wilderness  of  woods.  It  was  the 
coast   of  Florida.     They   soon   descried  a  jutting 

'  Delaborde,  Gaspard  de  Colign;;,  11.  14,  440. 


36  JEAN  RIBAUT.  [1562. 

point,  which  they  called  French  Cape,  perhaps  one 
of  the  headlands  of  Matanzas  Inlet.  They  turned 
their  prows  northward,  coasting  the  fringes  of 
that  waste  of  verdure  which  rolled  in  shadowy 
undulation  far  to  the  unknown  West. 

On  the  next  morning,  the  first  of  May,  they 
found  themselves  off  the  mouth  of  a  great  river. 
Riding  at  anchor  on  a  sunny  sea,  they  lowered 
their  boats,  crossed  the  bar  that  obstructed  the 
entrance,  and  floated  on  a  basin  of  deep  and  shel- 
tered water,  "  boyling  and  roaring,"  says  Ribaut, 
"  through  the  multitude  of  all  kind  of  fish."  In- 
dians were  running  along  the  beach,  and  out  upon 
the  sand-bars,  beckoning  them  to  land.  They 
pushed  their  boats  ashore  and  disembarked,  —  sai- 
lors, soldiers,  and  eager  young  nobles.  Corselet 
and  morion,  arquebuse  and  halberd,  flashed  in  the 
sun  that  flickered  through  innumerable  leaves,  as, 
kneeling  on  the  ground,  they  gave  thanks  to  God, 
who  had  guided  their  voyage  to  an  issue  full  of 
promise.  The  Indians,  seated  gravely  imder  the 
neighboring  trees,  looked  on  in  silent  respect, 
thinking  that  they  worshipped  the  sun.  "  They  be 
all  naked  and  of  a  goodly  stature,  mightie,  and  as 
well  shapen  and  proportioned  of  body  as  any  peo- 
ple in  y^  world ;  and  the  fore  part  of  their  body 
and  armes  be  painted  with  pretie  deuised  workes,  of 
Azure,  red,  and  blacke,  so  well  and  so  properly  as 
the  best  Painter  of  Europe  could  not  amende  it." 
With  their  squaws  and  children,  they  presently 
drew  near,  and,  strewing  the  earth  with  laurel 
boughs,  sat  down  among  the  Frenchmen.     Their 


1562.]  THE   RIVER   OF  MAY.  37 

visitors  were  much  pleased  with  them,  and  Ribaut 
gave  the  chief,  whom  he  calls  the  king,  a  robe  of 
blue  cloth,  worked  in  yellow  with  the  regeil  fleur- 
de-lis. 

But  Ribaut  and  his  followers,  just  escaped  from 
the  dull  prison  of  their  ships,  were  intent  on  ad- 
miring the  wild  scenes  around  them.  Never  had 
they  known  a  fairer  May-day.  The  quaint  old  nar- 
rative is  exuberant  with  delight.  The  tranquil 
air,  the  warm  sun,  woods  fresh  with  young  verdure, 
meadows  bright  with  flowers ;  the  palm,  the  cypress, 
the  pine,  the  magnolia ;  the  grazing  deer  ;  herons, 
curlews,  bitterns,  woodcock,  and  unknown  water- 
fowl that  waded  in  the  ripple  of  the  beach  ;  cedars 
bearded  from  crown  to  root  with  long,  gray  moss  ; 
huge  oaks  smothering  in  the  folds  of  enormous 
grape-vines;  —  such  were  the  objects  that  greeted 
them  in  their  roamings,  till  their  new-discovered 
land  seemed  "  the  fairest,  fruitfullest,  and  pleas- 
antest  of  al  the  world." 

They  found  a  tree  covered  with  caterpillars, 
and  hereupon  the  ancient  black-letter  says  :  "  Also 
there  be  Silke  wormes  in  meruielous  number,  a 
great  deale  fairer  and  better  then  be  our  silk 
wormes.  To  bee  short,  it  is  a  thing  vnspeakabl.e 
to  consider  the  thinges  that  bee  scene  there,  and 
shalbe  founde  more  and  more  in  this  incomperable 
lande."  ^ 

^  The  True  and  Last  Discoverie  of  Florida,  made  hij  Captain  John 
Rihautt,  in  the  Yeere  1562,  dedicated  to  a  great  Nobleman  in  Fraunce, 
and  translated  into  Enrjlishe  bij  one  Thomas  Harlit.  This  is  Ribaiit's 
journal,  which  seems  not  to  exist  in  the  original.  The  translation 
is  contained  in  the  rare  black-letter  tract  of  Hakluyt  called  Divers  Vo/j- 


38  JEAN    RIBAUT.  [1562. 

Above  all,  it  was  plain  to  their  excited  fancy 
that  the  country  was  rich  in  gold  and  silver,  tur- 
quoises and  pearls.  One  of  these  last,  "  as  great 
as  an  Acorne  at  y^  least,"  hung  from  the  neck  of 
an  Indian  who  stood  near  their  boats  as  they  re- 
embarked.  They  gathered,  too,  from  the  signs  of 
their  savage  visitors,  that  the  wonderful  land  of 
Cibola,  with  its  seven  cities  and  its  untold  riches, 
was  distant  but  twenty  days'  journey  by  water. 
In  truth,  it  was  two  thousand  miles  westward, 
and  its  wealth  a  fable. 

They  named  the  river  the  River  of  May„  It  is 
now  the  St.  John's.  "  And  on  the  next  morning," 
says  Ribault,  "  we  returned  to  land  againe,  accom- 
panied with  the  Captaines,  Gentlemen,  and  Soul- 
diers,  and  others  of  our  small  troope,  carrying  with 
us  a  Pillour  or  columne  of  harde  stone,  our  king's 
armes  graved  therein,  to  plant  and  set  the  same  iu 
the  enteric  of  the  Porte  ;  and  being  come  thither 
we  espied  on  the  south  syde  of  the  Riuer  a  place 
very  fitte  for  that  purpose  upon  a  little  hill  com- 
passed with  Cypres,  Bayes,  Paulmes,  and  other 
trees,  with  sweete  smelling  and  pleasant  shrubbes." 
Here  they  set  the  column,  and  then,  again  embark- 
ing, held  their  course  northward,  happy  in  that 
benign  decree  which  locks  from  mortal  eyes  the 
secrets  of  the  future. 

Next  they  anchored  near  Fernandina,  and  to  a 

ages,  (London,  1582,)  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  library  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege. It  has  been  reprinted  by  the  Hakluyt  Society.  Tlie  journal  first 
appeared  in  1563,  under  the  title  of  The  Whole  and  True  DIscoverle  of 
Terra  Florida  (Englished  The  Florishing  Land).  This  edition  is  of  ex 
trenie  rarity. 


1562.]  PORT   ROYAL.  39 

neighboring  river,  probably  the  St.  Mary's,  gave 
the  name  of  the  Seine.  Here,  as  morning  broke 
on  the  fresh,  moist  meadows  hung  with  mists,  and 
on  broad  reaches  of  inland  waters  which  seemed 
like  lakes,  they  were  tempted  to  land  again,  and 
soon  "  espied  an  innumerable  number  of  footesteps 
of  great  Hartes  and  Hindes  of  a  wonderfull  great- 
nesse,  the  steppes  being  all  fresh  and  new,  and 
it  seemeth  that  the  people  doe  nourish  them  like 
tame  Cattell."  By  two  or  three  weeks  of  explo- 
ration they  seem  to  have  gained  a  clear  idea  of 
this  rich  semi-aquatic  region.  Ribaut  describes  it 
as  "  a  countrie  full  of  hauens,  riuers,  and  Hands, 
of  such  fruitfulnes  as  cannot  with  tongue  be  ex- 
pressed." Slowly  moving  northward,  they  named 
each  river,  or  inlet  supposed  to  be  a  river,  after 
some  stream  of  France,  —  the  Loire,  the  Charente, 
the  Garonne,  the  Gironde.  At  length,  opening  be- 
twixt flat  and  sandy  shores,  they  saw  a  commodious 
haven,  and  named  it  Port  Royal. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  May  they  crossed  the 
bar  where  the  war-ships  of  Dupont  crossed  three 
hundred  years  later,  passed  Hilton  Head,  and  held 
their  course  along  the  peaceful  bosom  of  Broad 
River. ^  On  the  left  they  saw  a  stream  which  they 
named  Libourne,  probably  Skull  Creek ;  on  the 
right,  a  wide  river,  probably  the  Beaiifort.  When 
they  landed,   all  was    solitude.       The   frightened 

1  Ribiiut  thinks  that  the  Broad  River  of  Port  Royal  is  the  Jordan  of 
the  Spanish  navigator  Vasquez  de  Ayllon,  who  was  here  in  1520,  and  gave 
the  name  of  St.  Helena  to  a  neighboring  cape  (Garcilaso,  Florida  del 
Inca).  The  adjacent  district,  now  called  St.  Helena,  is  the  Chicora  of  the 
old  Spanish  maps. 


40  JEAN   RIBAUT.  [1562. 

Indians  had  fled,  but  tbey  lured  them  back  with 
knives,  beads,  and  looking-glasses,  and  enticed  two 
of  them  on  board  their  ships.  Here,  by  feeding, 
clothing,  and  caressing  them,  they  tried  to.  wean 
them  from  their  fears,  thinking  to  carry  them  to 
France,  in  obedience  to  a  command  of  Catherine  de 
Medicis ;  ^  but  the  captive  warriors  moaned  and 
lamented  day  and  night,  and  at  length  made  their 
escape. 

Ranging  the  woods,  they  found  them  full. of 
game,  wild  turkeys  and  partridges,  bears  and 
lynxes.  Two  deer,  of  unusual  size,  leaped  from 
the  underbrush.  Cross-bow  and  arquebuse  were 
brought  to  the  level ;  but  the  Huguenot  captain, 
"  moved  with  the  singular  fairness  and  bigness  of 
them,"  forbade  his  men  to  shoot. 

Preliminary  exploration,  not  immediate  settle- 
ment, had  been  the  object  of  the  voyage  ;  but  all 
was  still  rose-color  in  the  eyes  of  the  vo3^agers, 
and  many  of  their  number  would  gladly  linger  in 
the  New  Canaan.  Ribaut  was  more  than  willing 
to  humor  them.  He  mustered  his  company  on 
deck,  and  made  them  a  harangue.  He  appealed 
to  their  courage  and  their  patriotism,  told  them 
how,  from  a  mean  origin,  men  rise  by  enterprise 
and  daring  to  fame  and  fortune,  and  demanded 
who  among  them  would  stay  behind  and  hold 
Port  Royal  for  the  King.  The  greater  part  came 
forward,  and  "  with  such  a  good  will  and  joly 
coimge,"  writes  the  commander,  "  as  we  had  much 
to  do  to  stay  their  importunitie."     Thirty  were 

^  Laudonniere  in  Basanier,  14 


1562]  CHARLESFORT.  41 

chosen,  and  Albert  de  Pierria  was  named  to  com- 
mand them. 

A  fort  was  begun  on  a  small  stream  called  the 
Chenonceau,  probably  Archer's  Creek,  about  six 
miles  from  the  site  of  Beaufort.^  They  named  it 
Charlesfort,  in  honor  of  the  unhappy  son  of  Cath- 
erine de  Medicis,  Charles  the  Ninth,  the  future 
hero  of  St.  Bartholomew.  Ammunition  and  stores 
were  sent  on  shore,  and  on  the  eleventh  of  June, 
with  his  diminished  company,  Ribaut  again  em- 
barked and  spread  his  sails  for  France. 

From  the  beach  at  Hilton  He^ad,  Albert  and  his 
companions  might  watch  the  receding  ships,  grow- 
ing less  and  less  on  the  vast  expanse  of  blue, 
dwindling  to  faint  specks,  then  vanishing  on  the 
pale  verge  of  the  waters.  They  were  alone  in 
those  fearful  solitudes.  From  the  north  pole  to 
Mexico  there  was  no  Christian  denizen  but  they. 

The  pressing  question  was  how  they  were  to 
subsist.  Their  thought  was  not  of  subsistence, 
but  of  gold.  Of  the  thirty,  the  greater  number 
were  soldiers  and  sailors,  with  a  few  gentlemen ; 
that  is  to  say,  men  of  the  sword,  born  within 
the  pale  of  nobility,  who  at  home  could  neither 
labor  nor  trade  without  derogation  from  their 
rank.  For  a  time  they  busied  themselves  with 
finishing  their  fort,  and,  this  done,  set  forth  in 
quest  of  adventures. 

The  Indians  had  lost  fear  of  them.  Ribaut  had 
enjoined  upon  them  to  use  all  kindness  and  gen- 

^  No  trace  of  this  fort  has  been  found.  The  old  fort  of  which  the 
remains  may  be  seen  a  little  below  Beaufort  is  of  later  date. 


42  JEAN   RIBAUT.  [1562 

tleness  in  their  dealing  with  the  men  of  the 
woods ;  and  they  more  than  obeyed  him.  They 
were  soon  hand  and  glove  with  chiefs,  warriors, 
and  squaws  ;  and  as  with  Indians  the  adage  that 
familiarity  breeds  contempt  holds  with  peculiar 
force,  they  quickly  divested  themselves  of  the 
prestige  which  had  attached  at  the  outset  to  their 
supposed  character  of  children  of  the  Sun.  Good 
will,  however,  remained,  and  this  the  colonists 
abused  to  the  utmost. 

Roaming  by  river,  swamp,  and  forest,  they  vis- 
ited in  turn  the  villages  of  live  petty  chiefs,  whom 
they  called  kings,  feasting  everywhere  on  hominy, 
beans,  and  game,  and  loaded  with  gifts.  One  of 
these  chiefs,  named  Audusta,  invited  them  to  the 
grand  religious  festival  of  his  tribe.  When  they 
arrived,  they  found  the  village  alive  with  prepa- 
ration, and  troops  of  women  busied  in  sweeping 
the  great  circular  area  Avhere  the  ceremonies  were 
to  take  place.  But  as  the  noisy  and  impertinent 
guests  showed  a  disposition  to  undue  merriment, 
the  chief  shut  them  all  in  his  wigwam,  lest  their 
Gentile  eyes  should  profane  the  mysteries.  Here, 
immured  in  darkness,  they  listened  to  the  howls, 
yelpings,  and  lugubrious  songs  that  resounded 
from  without.  One  of  them,  however,  by  some 
artifice,  contrived  to  escape,  hid  behind  a  bush, 
and  saw  the  whole  solemnity  ;  —  the  procession  of 
the  medicine-men  and  the  bedaubed  and  befeath- 
ered  warriors  ;  the  drumming,  dancing,  and  stamp- 
ing ;  the  wild  lamentation  of  the  women  as  they 
gashed  the  arms  of  the  young  girls  with  sharp 


1562 


INDIAN  KINGS.  '  43 


miissel-shells,  and  flung  the  blood  into  the  air  with 
dismal  outcries.  A  scene  of  ravenous  feasting  fol- 
lowed, in  which  the  French,  released  from  durance, 
were  summoned  to  share. 

After  the  carousal  they  returned  to  Charlesfort, 
where  they  were  soon  pinched  with  hunger.  The 
Indians,  never  niggardly  of  food,  brought  them 
supplies  as  long  as  their  own  lasted  ;  but  the  har- 
vest was  not  yet  ripe,  and  their  means  did  not 
match  their  good-will.  They  told  the  French  of 
two  other  kings,  Ouade  and  Couexis,  who  dwelt 
towards  the  south,  and  were  rich  beyond  belief 
in  maize,  beans,  and  squashes.  The  mendicant 
colonists  embarked  without  delay,  and,  with  an 
Indian  guide,  steered  for  the  wigwams  of  these 
potentates,  not  by  the  open  sea,  but  by  a  perplex- 
ing inland  navigation,  including,  as  it  seems,  Cali- 
bogue  Sound  and  neighboring  waters.  Reaching 
the  friendly  villages,  on  or  near  the  Savannah, 
they  were  feasted  to  repletion,  and  their  boat  was 
laden  with  vegetables  and  corn.  They  returned 
rejoicing ;  but  their  joy  was  short.  Their  store- 
house at  Charlesfort,  taking  fire  in  the  night, 
burned  to  the  ground,  and  vv^th  it  their  newly 
acquired  stock.  Once  more  they  set  out  for  the 
realms  of  King  Ouade,  and  once  more  returned 
laden  with  supplies.  Nay,  the  generous  savage 
assured  them  that,  so  long  as  his  cornfields  yielded 
their  harvests,  his  friends  should  not  want. 

How  long  this  friendship  would  have  lasted 
may  well  be  doubted.  With  the  perception  that 
the  dependants  on  their  bounty  were  no  demigods, 


44  *  JEAN  RIBAUT.  [1562. 

but  a  crew  of  idle  and  helpless  beggars,  respect 
would  soon  have  changed  to  contempt,  and  con- 
tempt to  ill  will.  But  it  was  not  to  Indian  war- 
clubs  that  the  infant  colony  was  to  owe  its  ruin. 
It  carried  within  itself  its  own  destruction.  The 
ill-assorted  band  of  landsmen  and  sailors,  sur- 
rounded by  that  influence  of  the  wilderness  which 
wakens  the  dormant  savage  in  the  breasts  of  men, 
soon  fell  into  quarrels.  Albert,  a  rude  soldier, 
with  a  thousand  leagues  of  ocean  betwixt  him  and 
responsibility,  grew  harsh,  domineering,  and  vio- 
lent beyond  endurance.  None  could  question  or 
oppose  him  without  peril  of  death.  He  hanged 
with  his  own  hands  a  drummer  who  had  fallen 
under  his  displeasure,  and  banished  a  soldier, 
named  La  Chere,  to  a  solitary  island,  three  leagues 
from  the  fort,  where  he  left  him  to  starve.  For 
a  time  his  comrades  chafed  in  smothered  fury. 
The  crisis  came  at  length.  A  few  of  the  fiercer 
spirits  leagued  together,  assailed  their  tyrant,  mur- 
dered him,  delivered  the  famished  soldier,  and 
called  to  the  command  one  Nicolas  Barre,  a  man 
of  merit.  Barre  took  the  command,  and  thence- 
forth there  was  peace. 

Peace,  such  as  it  was,  with  famine,  homesickness, 
and  disgust.  The  rough  ramparts  and  rude  build- 
ings of  Charlesfort,  hatefully  familiar  to  their 
weary  eyes,  the  sweltering  forest,  the  glassy  river, 
the  eternal  silence  of  the  lifeless  wilds  around 
them,  oppressed  the  senses  and  the  spirits.  They 
dreamed  of  ease,  of  home,  of  pleasures  across  the 
sea,  of  the  evening  cup  on  the  bench  before  the 


1563.]  A   VESSEL   BUILT.  45 

cabaret,  and  dances  with  kind  wenches  of  Dieppe. 
But  how  to  escape  ?  A  continent  was  their  soli- 
tary prison,  and  the  pitiless  Atlantic  shut  them  in. 
Not  one  of  them  knew  how  to  build  a  ship  ;  but 
Ribaut  had  left  them  a  forge,  with  tools  and  iron, 
and  strong  desire  supplied  the  place  of  skill.  Trees 
were  hewn  down  and  the  work  begun.  Had  they 
put  forth  to  maintain  themselves  at  Port  Royal 
the  energy  and  resource  which  they  exerted  to  es- 
cape from  it,  they  might  have  laid  the  corner-stone 
of  a  solid  colony. 

All,  gentle  and  simple,  labored  with  equal  zeal. 
They  calked  the  seams  with  the  long  moss  which 
hung  in  profusion  from  the  neighboring  trees ; 
the  pines  supplied  them  with  pitch ;  the  Indians 
made  for  them  a  kind  of  cordage ;  and  for  sails 
they  sewed  together  their  shirts  and  bedding.  At 
length  a  brigantine  w^orthy  of  Robinson  Crusoe 
floated  on  the  waters  of  the  Chenonceau.  They 
laid  in  what  provision  they  could,  gave  all  that 
remained  of  their  goods  to  the  Indians,  embarked, 
descended  the  river,  and  put  to  sea.  A  fair  wind 
filled  their  patchwork  sails  and  bore  them  from 
the  hated  coast.  Day  after  day  they  held  their 
course,  till  at  length  the  breeze  died  away  and  a 
breathless  calm  fell  on  the  waters.  Florida  was 
far  behind ;  France  farther  yet  before.  Floating 
idly  on  the  glassy  waste,  the  craft  lay  motionless. 
Their  supplies  gave  out.  Twelve  kernels  of  maize 
a  day  were  each  man's  portion ;  then  the  maize 
failed,  and  they  ate  their  shoes  and  leather  jerkins. 
The  water  barrels  were  drained,  and  they  tried  to 


46  JEAN   RIBAUT.  11563. 

slake  tlieir  thirst  with  brine.  Several  died,  and 
the  rest,  giddy  with  exhaustion  and  crazed  with 
thirst,  were  forced  to  ceaseless  labor,  bailing  out 
the  water  that  gushed  through  every  seam.  Head- 
winds set  in,  increasing  to  a  gale,  and  the  wretched 
brigantine,  with  sails  close-reefed,  tossed  among 
the  savage  billows  at  the  mercy  of  the  storm.  A 
heavy  sea  rolled  down  upon  her,  and  burst  the 
bulwarks  on  the  windward  side.  The  surges  broke 
over  her,  and,  clinging  with  desperate  gripe  to 
spars  and  cordage,  the  drenched  voyagers  gave  up 
all  for  lost.  At  length  she  righted.  The  gale 
subsided,  the  wind  changed,  and  the  crazy,  water- 
logged vessel  again  bore  slowly  towards  France. 

Gnawed  with  famine,  they  counted  the  leagues  of 
barren  ocean  that  still  stretched  before,  and  gazed 
on  each  other  with  haggard  wolfish  eyes,  till  a 
whisper  passed  from  man  to  man,  that  one,  by  his 
death,  might  ransom  all  the  rest.  The  lot  was 
cast  and  it  fell  on  La  Chere,  the  same  wretched 
man  whom  Albert  had  doomed  to  starvation  on  a 
lonely  island.  They  killed  him,  and  with  raven- 
ous avidity  portioned  out  his  flesh.  The  hideous 
repast  sustained  them  till  the  land  rose  in  sight, 
when,  it  is  said,  in  a  delirium  of  joy,  they  could 
no  longer  steer  their  vessel,  but  let  her  drift  at  the 
will  of  the  tide.  A  small  English  bark  bore  down 
upon  them,  took  them  all  on  board,  and,  after 
landing  the  feeblest,  carried  the  rest  prisoners  to 
Queen  Elizabeth.^ 

^  For  all  the  latter  part  of  the  chapter,  the  authority  is  the  first  of  the 
thiee  long  letters  of  Reue'  de  Laudouniere,  companion  of  Ribaut  aud  his 


1563.]  FLORIDA  ABANDONED.  47 

Thus  closed  another  of  those  scenes  of  woe  whose 
lurid  clouds  are  thickly  piled  around  the  stormy 
dawn  of  American  history.  It  was  the  opening 
act  of  a  wild  and  tragic  drama. 

successor  in  toniniand.  They  are  contained  in  the  Histoire  Notable  de  la 
Floride,  compiled  by  Basanier,  ( Paris,  1586,)  and  are  also  to  be  found, 
quaintly  "  done  into  English,"  in  the  third  volume  of  Hakluyt's  great  col- 
lection.    In  the  maiu,  they  are  entitled  to  much  confidence. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1564. 

LAUDONNlfeRE. 

The    New    Coloxt.  —  Satourioxa.  —  The    Promised    Laxd.  —  Mi- 

KACDLOUS    Loxgevity.  —  FoRT   Carolixe.  —  Native   Tribes. 

Ottigxt  explores  the    St.  Johx's.  —  The  Thimagoas.  —  Cox- 

FLICTIXG     AlLIAXCES. IXDIAX    WaR. DIPLOMACY    OF     LaCDON- 

NIERE. VaSSEUR'S    ExPEDITIOX. 

On  the  tweDty-fiftli  of  June,  1564,  a  French 
squadron  anchored  a  second  time  off  the  mouth  of 
the  River  of  May.  There  were  three  vessels,  the 
smallest  of  sixty  tons,  the  largest  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty,  all  crowded  with  men.  Rene  de  Lau- 
donniere  held  command.  He  was  of  a  noble  race 
of  Poitou,  attached  to  the  house  of  Chatillon,  of 
which  Coligny  was  the  head  ;  pious,  we  are  told, 
and  an  excellent  marine  officer.  An  engraving, 
purporting  to  be  his  likeness,  shows  us  a  slender 
figure,  leaning  against  the  mast,  booted  to  the 
thigh,  with  slouched  hat  and  plume,  slashed  dou- 
blet, and  short  cloak.  His  thin  oval  face,  with 
curled  moustache  and  close-trimmed  beard,  wears 
a  somewhat  pensive  look,  as  if  already  shadowed 
by  the  destiny  that  awaited  him.^ 

The  intervening  year  since  Ribaut's  voyage  had 
been  a  dark  year  for  France.     From  the  peaceful 

1  See  Gue'rin,  Navigateurs  Fran^ais,  180.  The  authenticity  of  the4)or- 
trait  is  doubtful. 


1564.]  THE  NEW  COLONY.  49 

solitude  of  the  River  of  May,  that  voyager  returned 
to  a  land  reeking  with  slaughter.  But  the  carni- 
val of  bigotry  and  hate  had  found  a  pause.  The 
Peace  of  Amboise  had  been  signed.  The  fierce 
monk  choked  down  his  venom ;  the  soldier  sheathed 
his  sword,  the  assassin  his  dagger;  rival  chiefs 
grasped  hands,  and  masked  their  rancor  under 
hollow  smiles.  The  king  and  the  queen-mother, 
helpless  amid  the  storm  of  factions  which  threat- 
ened their  destruction,  smiled  now  on  Conde,  now 
on  Guise,  —  gave  ear  to  the  Cardinal  of  Lorraine, 
or  listened  in  secret  to  the  emissaries  of  Theodore 
Beza.  Coligny  was  again  strong  at  Court.  He 
used  his  opportunity,  and  solicited  with  success 
the  means  of  renewing  his  enterprise  of  coloni- 
zation.^ 

Men  were  mustered  for  the  work.  In  name, 
at  least,  they  were  all  Huguenots ;  yet  now,  as 
before,  the  staple  of  the  projected  colony  was  un- 
sound :  soldiers,  paid  out  of  the  royal  treasury, 
hired  artisans  and  tradesmen,  with  a  swarm  of 
volunteers  from  the  young  Huguenot  nobles,  whose 
restless  swords  had  rusted  in  their  scabbards  since 
the  peace.  The  foundation-stone  was  forgotten. 
There  were  no  tillers  of  the  soil.  Such,  indeed, 
were  rare  among  the  Huguenots ;  for  the  dull 
peasants  who  guided  the  plough  clung  with  blind 
tenacity  to  the  ancient  faith.  Adventurous  gen- 
tlemen, reckless  soldiers,  discontented  tradesmen, 
all  keen  for  novelty  and  heated  with  dreams  of 
wealth,  —  these  were  they  who  would  build  for 

1  Delaborde,  Gaspard  de  ColUjni],  II.  443. 
4 


50  LAUDONNltiRE.  [1564. 

their  country  and  their  religion  an  empire  beyond 
the  sea.^ 

On  Thursday,  the  twenty-second  of  June,  Lau- 
donniere  saw  the  low  coast  line  of  Florida,  and 
entered  the  harbor  of  St.  Augustine,  which  he 
named  the  River  of  Dolphins,  "  because  that  at 
mine  arrival  I  saw  there  a  great  number  of  Dol- 
phins which  were  playing  in  the  mouth  thereof."^ 
Then  he  bore  northward,  following  the  coast  till, 
on  the  twenty-fifth,  lie  reached  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  John's  or  River  of  May.  The  vessels  an- 
chored, the  boats  were  lowered,  and  he  landed 
with  his  principal  followers  on  the  south  shore, 
near  the  present  village  of  Mayport.  It  was  the 
very  spot  where  he  had  landed  with  Ribaut  two 
years  before.  They  were  scarcely  on  shore  when 
they  saw  an  Indian  chief,  "  which  having  espied 
us  cryed  very  far  off,  Antipola,  Antipola,  and 
being  so  joyful  that  he  could  not  containe  him- 
selfe,  he  came  to  meet  us  accompanied  with  two 
of  his  sonnes,  as  faire  and  mightie  persons  as 
might  be  found  in  al  the  world.     There  was  in 

^  The  principal  authorities  for  this  part  of  the  narrative  are  Laudon- 
niere  and  his  artist,  Le  Moyne.  Laudonniere's  letters  were  pul)lished  in 
1586,  under  the  title  L'Histoire  Notable  de  la  Floride,  viise  en  lumiere  par 
M.  Basanier.  See  also  Hakluyt's  Voi/nf/es,  III.  (1812).  Le  Moyne  was 
employed  to  make  maps  and  drawings  of  the  country.  His  maps  are  curi- 
ously inexact.  His  drawings  are  spirited,  and,  with  many  allowances,  give 
useful  hints  concerning  the  habits  of  the  natives.  They  are  engraved  in 
the  Grands  Voyages  of  De  Bry,  Part  II.  (Frankfort,  1591).  To  each  is 
appended  a  "  declaratio  "  or  explanatory  remarks.  The  same  work  con- 
tains the  artist's  personal  narrative,  the  Brevis  Narratio.  In  the  Recueil 
de  Pieces  siir  la  Floride  of  Ternaux-Compaus  is  a  letter  from  one  of  the 
adventurers. 

^  Second  letter  of  Laudonniere ;  contemporary  translation  in  Hak- 
luyt,  III. 


1564.]  SATOURIONA.  51 

their  trayne  a  great  number  of  men  and  women 
which  stil  made  very  much  of  us,  and  by  signes 
made  us  understand  how  glad  they  were  of  our 
arrivall.  This  good  entertainment  past,  the  Para- 
coussy  [chief]  prayed  me  to  goe  see  the  pillar 
which  we  had  erected  in  the  voyage  of  John 
Ribault."  The  Indians,  regarding  it  with  myste- 
rious awe,  had  crowned  it  with  evergreens,  and 
placed  baskets  full  of  maize  before  it  as  an 
offering. 

The  chief  then  took  Laudonniere  by  the  hand, 
telling  him  that  he  was  named  Satouriona,  and 
pointed  out  the  extent  of  his  dominions,  far  up 
the  river  and  along  the  adjacent  coasts.  One  of 
his  sons,  a  man  "  perfect  in  beautie,  wisedome, 
and  honest  sobrietie,"  then  gave  the  French  com- 
mander a  wedge  of  silver,  and  received  some  tri- 
fles in  return,  after  which  the  voyagers  went  back 
to  their  ships.  "  I  prayse  God  continually,"  says 
Laudonniere,  "  for  the  great  love  I  have  found  in 
these  savages." 

In  the  morning  the  French  landed  again,  and 
found  their  new  friends  on  the  same  sjDotj  to  the 
number  of  eighty  or  more,  seated  under  a  shelter 
of  boughs,  in  festal  attire  of  smoke-tanned  deer- 
skins, painted  in  many  colors.  The  party  then 
rowed  up  the  river,  the  Indians  following  them 
along  the  shore.  As  they  advanced,  coasting  the 
borders  of  a  great  marsh  that  lay  upon  their  left, 
the  St.  John's  spread  before  them  in  vast  sheets 
of  glistening  water,  almost  level  with  its  flat, 
sedgy  shores,  the  haunt  of  alligators,  and  the  re- 


52  LAUDOXNlfeRE.  [1564. 

sort  of  innumerable  birds.  Beyond  the  marsh, 
some  five  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river,  they 
saw  a  ridge  of  high  ground  abutting  on  the  water, 
which,  flowing  beneath  in  a  deep,  strong  current, 
had  undermined  it,  and  left  a  steep  front  of  yel- 
lowish sand.  This  was  the  hill  now  called  St. 
John's  Bluff.  Here  they  landed  and  entered  the 
woods,  where  Laudonniere  stopped  to  rest  while 
his  lieutenant,  Ottigny,  with  a  sergeant  and  a 
few  soldiers,  went  to  explore  the  country. 

They  pushed  their  way  through  the  thickets  till 
they  were  stopped  by  a  marsh  choked  with  reeds, 
at  the  edge  of  which,  under  a  great  laurel  tree, 
they  had  seated  themselves  to  rest,  overcome  with 
the  summer  heat,  when  five  Indians  suddenly  ap- 
peared, peering  timidly  at  them  from  among  the 
bushes.  Some  of  the  men  went  towards  them 
with  signs  of  friendship,  on  which,  taking  heart, 
they  drew  near,  and  one  of  them,  who  was  evi- 
dently a  chief,  made  a  long  speech,  inviting  the 
strangers  to  their  dwellings.  The  way  was  across 
the  marsh,  through  which  they  carried  the  lieu- 
tenant and  two  or  three  of  the  soldiers  on  their 
backs,  while  the  rest  circled  by  a  narrow  path 
through  the  woods.  When  they  reached  the 
lodges,  a  crowd  of  Indians  came  out  "•'  to  receive 
our  men  gallantly,  and  feast  them  after  their  man- 
ner." One  of  them  brought  a  large  earthen  vessel 
full  of  spring  water,  which  was  served  out  to  each 
in  turn  in  a  wooden  cup.  But  what  most  aston- 
ished the  French  was  a  venerable  chief,  who  assured 
them  that  he  was  the  father  of  five  successive  gen- 


1564.1  THE   niOMISED   LAND.  53 

erations,  and  that  he  had  lived  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  Opposite  sat  a  still  more  ancient  vet- 
eran, the  father  of  the  first,  shrunken  to  a  mere 
anatomy,  and  "  seeming  to  be  rather  a  dead  car- 
keis  than  a  living  body."  "  Also,"  pursues  the 
history,  "  his  age  was  so  great  that  the  good  man 
had  lost  his  sight,  and  could  not  speak  one  onely 
word  but  with  exceeding  great  paine."  ^  In  spite 
of  his  dismal  condition,  the  visitors  were  told  that 
he  might  expect  to  live,  in  the  course  of  nature, 
thirty  or  forty  years  more.  As  the  two  patriarchs 
sat  face  to  face,  half  hidden  with  their  streaming 
white  hair,  Ottigny  and  his  credulous  soldiers 
looked  from  one  to  the  other,  lost  in  speechless 
admiration. 

One  of  these  veterans  made  a  parting  present 
to  his  guests  of  two  young  eagles,  and  Ottigny 
and  his  followers  returned  to  report  what  they 
had  seen.  Laudonniere  was  waiting  for  them  on 
the  side  of  the  hill,  and  now,  he  says,  "  I  went 
right  to  the  toppe  thereof,  where  we  found  nothing 
else  but  Cedars,  Palme,  and  Baytrees  of  so  sover- 
eigne  odour  that  Baulme  smelleth  nothing  like 
in  comparison."  From  this  high  standpoint  they 
surveyed  their  Canaan.  The  unruffled  river  lay 
before  them,  wdth  its  marshy  islands  overgrown 
with  sedge  and  bulrushes,  while  on  the  farther 
side  the  flat,  green  meadows  spread  mile  on  mile, 
veined  with  countless  creeks  and  belts  of  torpid 
water,   and  bounded  leagues  away  by  the  verge 

1  Laudonniere  in  Ilakluyt,  III.  388  ;  Basanier,  fol.  40 ;  Coppie  d'tme 
Lettre  venant  de  la  Floride,  in  Ternaux-C<w:ipans,  Florkle,  233. 


54  LAUDONNIJfcRE.  [1564. 

of  the  dim  pine  forest.  On  the  right,  the  sea 
glistened  along  the  horizon,  and  on  the  left,  the 
St.  John's  stretched  westward  between  verdant 
shores,  a  highway  to  their  fancied  Eldorado. 
"  Briefly,"  writes  Laudonniere,  "  the  place  is  so 
pleasant  that  those  which  are  melancholicke  would 
be  inforced  to  change  their  humour." 

On  their  way  back  to  the  ships  they  stopped 
for  another  parley  with  the  chief  Satouriona,  and 
Laudonniere  eagerly  asked  where  he  had  got  the 
wedge  of  silver  that  he  gave  him  in  the  morning. 
The  chief  told  him  by  signs,  that  he  had  taken  it 
in  war  from  a  people  called  Thimagoas,  who  lived 
higher  up  the  river,  and  who  were  his  mortal  ene- 
mies ;  on  which  the  French  captain  had  the  folly 
to  promise  that  he  would  join  in  an  expedition 
against  them.  Satouriona  was  delighted,  and  de- 
clared that,  if  he  kept  his  word,  he  should  have 
gold  and  silver  to  his  heart's  content. 

Man  and  nature  alike  seemed  to  mark  the  bor- 
ders of  the  River  of  May  as  the  site  of  the  new 
colony ;  for  here,  around  the  Indian  towns,  the 
harvests  of  maize,  beans,  and  pumpkins  promised 
abundant  food,  while  the  river  opened  a  ready 
way  to  the  mines  of  gold  and  silver  and  the 
stores  of  barbaric  wealth  which  glittered  before 
the  dreaming  vision  of  the  colonists.  Yet,  the  bet- 
ter to  satisfy  himself  and  his  men,  Laudonniere 
weighed  anchor,  and  sailed  for  a  time  along  the 
neighboring  coasts.  Returning,  confirmed  in  his 
first  impression,  he  set  out  with  a  party  of  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  to   explore  the  borders  of   the 


1564.]  A   FORT  BUILT.  55 

chosen  stream.  The  day  was  hot.  The  sun  beat 
fiercely  on  the  woollen  caps  and  heavy  doublets 
of  the  men,  till  at  length  they  gained  the  shade 
of  one  of  those  deep  forests  of  pine  where  the 
dead,  hot  air  is  thick  with  resinous  odors,  and  the 
earth,  carpeted  with  fallen  leaves,  gives  no  sound 
beneath  the  foot.  Yet,  in  the  stillness,  deer  leaped 
up  on  all  sides  as  they  moved  along.  Then  they 
emerged  into  sunlight.  A  meadow  was  before 
them,  a  running  brook,  and  a  wall  of  encircling 
forests.  The  men  called  it  the  Vale  of  Laudon- 
niere.  The  afternoon  was  spent,  and  the  sun  was 
near  its  setting,  when  they  reached  the  bank  of  the 
river.  They  strewed  the  ground  with  boughs  and 
leaves,  and,  stretched  on  that  sylvan  couch,  slept 
the  sleep  of  travel- worn  and  weary  men. 

They  were  roused  at  daybreak  by  sound  of  trum- 
pet, and  after  singing  a  psalm  they  set  themselves 
to  their  task.  It  was  the  building  of  a  fort,  and 
the  spot  they  chose  was  a  furlong  or  more  above 
St.  John's  Bluff,  where  close  to  the  water  was  a 
wide,  flat  knoll,  raised  a  few  feet  above  the  marsh 
and  the  river.^  Boats  came  up  the  stream  with 
laborers,  tents,  provisions,  cannon,  and  tools.  The 
engineers  marked  out  the  work  in  the  form  of  a 
triangle ;  and,  from  the  noble  volunteer  to  the 
meanest  artisan,  all  lent  a  hand  to  complete  it. 

1  Above  St.  John's  Bluff  the  shore  curves  in  a  semicircle,  along 
which  the  water  runs  in  a  deep,  strong  current,  which  has  half  cut  away 
tlie  flat  knoll  above  mentioned,  and  encroached  greatly  on  the  l)luff  itself. 
The  formation  of  the  ground,  joined  to  the  indications  furnislied  by  Lau- 
donuiere  and  Lemoyue,  leave  little  doubt  that  the  fort  was  built  on 
the  knoll. 


56  LAUDONNlfiKE.  [1564. 

On  the  river  side  the  defences  were  a  palisade  of 
timber.  On  the  two  other  sides  were  a  ditch,  and 
a  rampart  of  fascines,  earth,  and  sods.  At  eacli 
angle  was  a  bastion,  in  one  of  which  was  the 
magazine.  Within  was  a  spacious  parade,  around 
it  w^ere  various  buildings  for  lodghig  and  storage, 
and  a  large  house  with  covered  galleries  was  built 
on  the  side  towards  the  river  for  Laudonniere  and 
his  officers.  In  honor  of  Charles  the  Ninth  the 
fort  was  named  Fort  Caroline. 

Meanwhile  Satouriona,  "lord  of  all  that  country," 
as  the  narratives  style  him,  was  seized  with  mis- 
givings on  learning  these  proceedings.  The  work 
was  scarcely  begun,  and  all  was  din  and  confusion 
around  the  incipient  fort,  when  the  startled  French- 
men saw  the  neighboring  height  of  St.  John's 
swarming  with  naked  warriors.  Laudonniere  set 
his  men  in  array,  and  for  a  season,  pick  and  spade 
were  dropped  for  arquebuse  and  pike.  The  savage 
chief  descended  to  the  camp.  The  artist  Le  Moyne, 
who  saw  him,  drew  his  likeness  from  memory,  —  a 
tall,  athletic  figure,  tattooed  in  token  of  his  rank, 
plumed,  bedecked  with  strings  of  beads,  and  gir- 
dled with  tinkling  pieces  of  metal  which  hung  from 
the  belt  which  formed  his  only  garment.^  He 
came  in  regal  state,  a  crowd  of  warriors  around 
him,  and,  in  advance,  a  troup  of  young  Indians 
armed  with  spears.  Twenty  musicians  followed, 
blowing  hideous  discord  through  pipes  of  reeds,^ 
while  he  seated  himself   on  the  ground   "  like  a 

1  Le  Moyne,  Tabulaj  VIIL,  XL 

2  Le  Moyne,  Brevis  Narratio. 


1564.]  NATIVE   TRIBES.  57 

monkey,"  as  Le  Moyne  lias  it  in  the  grave  Latin 
of  his  Brevis  Narratio.  A  council  followed,  in 
which  broken  words  were  aided  by  signs  and 
jDantomime ;  and  a  treaty  of  alliance  was  made, 
Laudonnij'u^e  renewing  his  rash  promise  to  aid 
the  chief  against  his  enemies.  ,  Satouriona,  well 
pleased,  ordered  his  Indians  to  help  the  French 
in  their  work.  They  obeyed  with  alacrity,  and 
in  two  days  the  buildings  of  the  fort  were  all 
thatched,  after  the  native  fashion,  with  leaves  of 
the  palmetto. 

These  savages  belonged  to  one  of  the  confeder- 
acies into  which  the  native  tribes  of  Florida  were 
divided,  and  with  three  of  which  the  French  came 
into  contact.  The  first  was  that  of  Satouriona, 
and  the  second  was  that  of  the  people  called  Thi- 
magoas,  who,  under  a  chief  named  Outina,  dwelt 
in  forty  villages  high  up  the  St.  John's.  The  third 
was  that  of  the  chief,  cacique,  or  paracoussy  whom 
the  French  called  King  Potanou,  and  whose  domin- 
ions lay  among  the  pine  barrens,  cypress  swamps, 
and  fertile  hummocks  westward  and  northwest- 
ward of  this  remarkable  river.  These  three  con- 
federacies hated  each  other,  and  were  constantly  at 
war.  Their  social  state  was  more  advanced  than 
that  of  the  wandering  hunter  tribes.  They  were 
an  agricultural  people,  and  around  all  their  vil- 
lages were  fields  of  maize,  beans,  and  pumpkins. 
The  harvest  was  gathered  into  a  public  granary, 
and  they  lived  on  it  during  three  fourths  of  the 
year,  dispersing  in  winter  to  hunt  among  the 
forests. 


58  LAUDONNlfcRE.  [1564. 

They  were  exceedingly  well  formed,  the  men, 
or  the  principal  among  them,  were  tattooed  on  the 
limbs  and  body,  and  in  summer  were  nearly  naked. 
Some  wore  their  straight  black  hair  flowing  loose 
to  the  waist ;  others  gathered  it  in  a  knot  at  the 
crown  of  the  head.  They  danced  and  sang  about 
the  ^scalps  of  their  enemies,  like  the  tribes  of  the 
North,  and  like  them  they  had  their  "  medicine- 
men," who  coml)ined  the  functions  of  physicians, 
sorcerers,  and  priests.  The  most  prominent  fea- 
ture of  their  religion  was  sun-worship. 

Their  villages  were  clusters  of  large  dome-shaped 
huts,  framed  with  poles  and  thatched  with  pal- 
metto leaves.  In  the  midst  was  the  dwelling  of 
the  chief,  much  larger  than  the  rest;  and  some- 
times raised  on  an  artificial  mound.  They  were 
enclosed  with  palisades,  and,  strange  to  say,  some 
of  them  were  approached  by  wide  avenues,  artifi- 
cially graded,  and  several  hundred  yards  in  length. 
Traces  of  these  may  still  be  seen,  as  may  also  the 
mounds  in  which  the  Floridians,  like  the  Hurons 
and  various  other  tribes,  collected  at  stated  inter- 
vals the  bones  of  their  dead. 

Social  distinctions  were  sharply  defined  among 
them.  Their  chiefs,  whose  office  was  hereditary, 
sometimes  exercised  a  power  almost  absolute. 
Each  village  had  its  chief,  subordinate  to  the 
grand  chief  of  the  confederacy.  In  the  language 
of  the  French  narratives,  they  were  all  kings  or 
lords,  vassals  of  the  great  monarch  Satouriona, 
Outina,  or  Potanou.  All  these  tribes  are  now  ex- 
tinct, and  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  with  precision 


i564.j  VOYAGE   OF  OTTIGNY.  59 

their  tribal  affinities.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
they  were  the  authors  of  the  aboriginal  remains  at 
present  found  in  various  parts  of  Florida. 

Having  nearly  finished  the  fort,  Laudonniere 
declares  that  he  ''  would  not  lose  the  minute  of  an 
houre  without  employing  of  the  same  in  some  ver- 
tuous  exercise,"  and  he  therefore  sent  his  Lieuten- 
ant, Ottigny,  to  spy  out  the  secrets  of  the  interior, 
and  to  learn,  above  all,  "what  this  Thimagoa  might 
be,  whereof  the  Paracoussy  Satouriona  had  spoken 
to  us  so  often."  As  Laudonniere  stood  pledged  to 
attack  the  Thimagoas,  the  chief  gave  Ottigny  two 
Indian  guides,  who,  says  the  record,  were  so  eager 
for  the  fray  that  they  seemed  as  if  bound  to  a  wed- 
ding feast. 

The  lazy  waters  of  the  St.  John's,  tinged  to 
coffee-color  by  the  exudations  of  the  swamps, 
curled  before  the  prow  of  Ottigny's  sail-boat  as 
he  advanced  into  the  prolific  wilderness  which  no 
European  eye  had  ever  yet  beheld.  By  his  own 
reckoning,  he  sailed  thirty  leagues  up  the  river, 
which  would  have  brought  him  to  a  point  not  far 
below  Palatka.  Here,  more  than  two  centuries 
later,  the  Bartrams,  father  and  son,  guided  their 
skiff  and  kindled  their  nightly  bivouac-fire ;  and 
here,  too,  roamed  Audubon,  with  his  sketch-book 
and  his  gun.  It  was  a  paradise  for  the  hunter  and 
the  naturalist.  Earth,  air,  and  water  teemed  with 
life,  in  endless  varieties  of  beauty  and  ugliness. 
A  half-tropical  forest  shadowed  the  low  shores, 
where  the  palmetto  and  the  cabbage  palm  mingled 
with  the   oak,  the  maple,  the  cypress,  the  liquid- 


60  LAUDONNIERE.  [1564. 

jimbar,  the  laurel,  the  myrtle,  and  the  broad  glis- 
tening leaves  of  the  evergreen  magnolia.  Here 
was  the  haunt  of  bears,  wild-cats,  lynxes,  cougars, 
and  the  numberless  deer  of  which  they  made  their 
prey.  In  the  sedges  and  the  mud  the  alligator 
stretched  his  brutish  length ;  turtles  with  out- 
stretched necks  basked  on  half-sunken  logs ;  the 
rattlesnake  sunned  himself  on  the  sandy  bank,  and 
the  yet  more  dangerous  moccason  lurked  under  the 
water-lilies  in  inlets  and  sheltered  coves.  The  air 
and  the  water  were  populous  as  the  earth.  The 
river  swarmed  with  fish,  from  the  fierce  and  rest- 
less gar,  cased  in  his  horny  armor,  to  the  lazy  cat- 
fish in  the  muddy  depths.  There  were  the  golden 
eagle  and  the  white-headed  eagle,  the  gray  pelican 
and  the  white  pelican,  the  blue  heron  and  the 
white  heron,  the  egret,  the  ibis,  ducks  of  various 
sorts,  the  whooping  crane,  the  black  vulture,  and 
the  cormorant ;  and  when  at  sunset  the  voyagers 
drew  their  boat  upon  the  strand  and  built  their 
camp-fire  under  the  arches  of  the  woods,  the  owls 
whooped  around  them  all  night  long,  and  when 
morning  came  the  sultry  mists  that  wrapped  the 
river  were  vocal  with  the  clamor  of  wild  turkeys. 

When  Ottigny  was  about  twenty  leagues  from 
Fort  Caroline,  his  tw^o  Indian  guides,  who  were 
always  on  the  watch,  descried  three  canoes,  and  in 
great  excitement  cried,  "  Thimagoa  !  Thimagoa !  " 
As  they  drew  near,  one  of  them  snatched  up  a 
halberd  and  the  other  a  sword,  and  in  their  fury 
they  seemed  ready  to  jump  into  the  water  to  get  at 
the  enemy.      To  their  great  disgust,  Ottigny  per- 


i564.|  VOYAGE  OF  OTTIGNY.  61 

initted  the  Thimagoas  to  nm  their  canoes  ashore 
and  escape  to  the  woods.  Far  from  keeping  Lau- 
donniere's  senseless  promise  to  fight  them,  he 
wished  to  make  them  friends ;  to  which  end  he 
now  landed  with  some  of  his  men,  placed  a  few 
trinkets  in  their  canoes,  and  withdrew  to  a  dis- 
tance to  watch  the  result.  The  fugitives  presently 
returned,  step  by  step,  and  allowed  the  French  to 
approach  them  ;  on  which  Ottigny  asked,  by  signs, 
if  they  had  gold  or  silver.  They  replied  that  they 
had  none,  but  that  if  he  would  give  them  one  of 
his  men  they  would  show  him  where  it  was  to  be 
found.  One  of  the  soldiers  boldly  offered  himself 
for  the  venture,  and  embarked  with  them.  As, 
however,  he  failed  to  return  according  to  agree 
ment,  Ottigny,  on  the  next  day,  followed  ten  leagues 
farther  up  the  stream,  and  at  length  had  the  good 
luck  to  see  him  approaching  in  a  canoe.  He  brought 
little  or  no  gold,  but  reported  that  he  had  heard  of 
a  certain  chief,  named  Mayrra,  marvellously  rich, 
who  lived  three  days'  journey  up  the  river ;  and 
with  these  welcome  tidings  Ottigny  went  back  to 
Fort  Caroline. 

A  fortnight  later,  an  officer  named  Yasseur  went 
up  the  river  to  pursue  the  adventure.  The  fever 
for  gold  had  seized  upon  the  French.  As  the  vil- 
lages of  the  Thimagoas  lay  between  them  and  the 
imagined  treasures,  they  shrank  from  a  quarrel, 
and  Laudonniere  repented  already  of  his  promised 
alliance  with  Satouriona. 

Vasseur  was  two  days'  sail  from  the  fort,  when 
two  Indians  hailed  him  from  the  shore,  inviting 


62  LAUDONNlfeRE.  [1564. 

him  to  their  dwellings.  He  accepted  tlieir  guid- 
ance, and  presently  saw  before  him  the  cornfields 
and  palisades  of  an  Indian  town.  He  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  led  throuoi:h  the  wondering;  crowd  to 
the  lodge  of  Molina,  the  chief,  seated  in  the  place 
of  honor,  and  plentifully  regaled  with  fish  and 
bread.  The  repast  over,  Mollua  made  a  speech. 
He  told  them  that  he  was  one  of  the  forty  vassal 
chiefs  of  the  great  Outina,  lord  of  all  the  Thima- 
goas,  whose  warriors  wore  armor  of  gold  and  silver 
plate.  He  told  them,  too,  of  Potanou,  his  enemy, 
"  a  man  cruell  in  warre  "  ;  and  of  the  two  kings  of 
the  distant  Appalachian  Mountains,  Onatheaqua 
and  Houstaqua,  "great  lords  and  abounding  in 
riches."  While  thus,  with  earnest  pantomime  and 
broken  words,  the  chief  discoursed  with  his  guests, 
Vasseur,  intent  and  eager,  strove  to  follow  his 
meaning ;  and  no  sooner  did  he  hear  of  these  Ap- 
palachian treasures  than  he  promised  to  join  Ou- 
tina in  war  against  the  two  potentates  of  the 
mountains.  Mollua,  well  pleased,  promised  that 
each  of  Outina's  vassal  chiefs  should  requite  their 
French  allies  with  a  heap  of  gold  and  silver  two 
feet  high.  Thus,  while  Laudonniere  stood  pledged 
to  Satouriona,  Vasseur  made  alliance  with  his 
mortal  enemy. 

On  his  return,  he  passed  a  night  in  the  lodge 
of  one  of  Satouriona's  chiefs,  who  questioned  him 
touching  his  dealings  with  the  Thimagoas.  Vas- 
seur replied  that  he  had  set  upon  them  and  put 
them  to  utter  rout.  But  as  the  chief,  seeming  as 
as  yet  unsatisfied,  continued  his  inquiries,  the  ser- 


1564.1  INDIAN  WAR.  63 

geant  Francois  de  la  Caille  drew  his  sword,  and, 
like  Falstaff,  re-enacted  his  deeds  of  valor,  pursu- 
ing and  thrusting  at  the  imaginary  Thimagoas,  as 
they  fled  before  his  fury.  The  chief,  at  length 
convinced,  led  the  party  to  his  lodge,  and  enter- 
tained them  with  a  decoction  of  the  herb  called 
Cassina. 

Satouriona,  elated  by  Laudonniere's  delusive 
promises  of  aid,  had  summoned  his  so-called  vas- 
sals to  war.  Ten  chiefs  and  some  five  hundred 
warriors  had  mustered  at  his  call,  and  the  forest 
was  alive  with  their  bivouacs.  When  all  was 
ready,  Satouriona  reminded  the  French  commander 
of  his  pledge,  and  claimed  its  fulfilment,  but  got 
nothing  but  evasions  in  return.  He  stifled  his 
rage,  and  prepared  to  go  without  his  fickle  ally. 

A  fire  was  kindled  near  the  bank  of  the  river, 
and  two  large  vessels  of  water  were  placed  beside 
it.  Here  Satouriona  took  his  stand,  while  his 
chiefs  crouched  on  the  grass  around  him,  and 
the  savage  visages  of  his  five  hundred  warriors 
filled  the  outer  circle,  their  long  hair  garnished 
with  feathers,  or  covered  with  the  heads  and 
skins  of  wolves,  cougars,  bears,  or  eagles.  Satou- 
riona, looking  towards  the  country  of  his  enemy, 
distorted  his  features  into  a  wild  expression  of 
rage  and  hate ;  then  muttered  to  himself ;  then 
howled  an  invocation  to  his  god,  the  Sun ;  then 
besprinkled  the  assembly  with  water  from  one  of 
the  vessels,  and,  turning  the  other  upon  the  fire, 
suddenly  quenched  it.  "  So,"  he  cried,  ''  ma}'  the 
blood   of   our  enemies  be  poured  out,   and   their 


64  LAUDONNIERE.  [1564. 

lives  extinguished !  "  and  the  concourse  gave  forth 
an  explosion  of  responsive  yells,  till  the  shores 
resounded  with  the  wolfish  din.^ 

The  rites  over,  they  set  out,  and  in  a  few  days 
returned  exulting,  with  thirteen  prisoners  and  a 
number  of  scalps.  These  last  were  hung  on  a  pole 
before  the  royal  lodge,  and  when  night  came  it 
brought  with  it  a  pandemonium  of  dancing  and 
whooping,  drumming  and  feasting. 

A  notable  scheme  entered  the  brain  of  Laudon- 
niere.  Resolved,  cost  what  it  might,  to  make  a 
friend  of  Outina,  he  conceived  it  to  be  a  stroke  of 
policy  to  send  back  to  him  two  of  the  prisoners. 
In  the  morning  he  sent  a  soldier  to  Satouriona  to 
demand  them.  The  astonished  chief  gave  a  flat  re- 
fusal, adding  that  he  owed  the  French  no  favors, 
for  they  had  shamefully  broken  faith  with  him. 
On  this,  Laudonniere,  at  the  head  of  twenty  soldiers, 
proceeded  to  tlie  Indian  town,  placed  a  guard  at 
the  opening  of  the  great  lodge,  entered  with  his 
arquebusiers,  and  seated  himself  without  ceremony 
in  the  highest  place.  Here,  to  show  his  displeas- 
ure, he  remained  in  silence  for  half  an  hour.  At 
length  he  spoke,  renewing  his  demand.  For  some 
moments  Satouriona  made  no  reply  ;  then  he  coldly 
observed  that  the  sight  of  so  many  armed  men  had 
frightened  the  prisoners  away.  Laudonniere  grew 
peremptory,  when  the  chief's  son,  Athore,  went 
out,  and  presently  returned  with  the  two  Indians, 
whom  the  French  led  back  to  Fort  Caroline.^ 

^  Le  Moyne  makes  the  scene  the  subject  of  one  of  his  pictures. 
2  Laudonniere  in  Hakluyt,  III.  396. 


:564.J  VASSEUR'S   EXPEDITION.  65 

Satouriona,  says  Laudonniere,  "  was  wonderfully 
offended  with  this  bravado,  and  bethought  him- 
selfe  by  all  meanes  how  he  might  be  revenged  of 
us."  He  dissembled  for  the  time,  and  presently 
sent  three  of  his  followers  to  the  fort  with  a  gift 
of  pumpkins ;  though  under  this  show  of  good- 
will the  outrage  rankled  in  his  breast,  and  he 
never  forgave  it.  The  French  had  been  unfortu- 
nate in  their  dealings  with  the  Indians.  They 
had  alienated  old  friends  in  vain  attempts  to  make 
new  ones. 

Vasseur,  with  the  Swiss  ensign  Arlac,^  a  ser- 
geant, and  ten  soldiers,  went  up  the  river  early 
in  September  to  carry  back  the  two  prisoners  to 
Outina.  Laudonniere  declares  that  they  sailed 
eighty  leagues,  which  would  have  carried  them  far 
above  Lake  Monroe  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  his  reck- 
oning is  grossly  exaggerated.  Their  boat  crawled 
up  the  lazy  St.  John's,  no  longer  a  broad  lake- 
like expanse,  but  a  narrow  and  tortuous  stream, 
winding  between  swampy  forests,  or  through  the 
vast  savanna,  a  verdant  sea  of  bulrushes  and  grass. 
At  length  they  came  to  a  village  called  Mayarqua, 
and  thence,  with  the  help  of  their  oars,  made  their 
way  to  another  cluster  of  wigwams,  apparently 
on  a  branch  of  the  main  river.  Here  they  found 
Outina  himself,  whom,  prepossessed  with  ideas  of 
feudality,  they  regarded  as  the  suzerain  of  a  host 
of  subordinate  lords  and  princes,  ruling  over  the 
surrounding  swamps  and  pine  barrens.  Outina 
gratefully  received  the  two  prisoners  whom  Lau- 

^  So  written  by  Laudonniere.     The  true  name  i.s  probably  Erlach 

5 


66  LAUDONNIERE.  [1564. 

donniere  had  sent  to  propitiate  him,  feasted  the 
wonderful  strangers,  and  invited  them  to  join  him 
on  a  raid  against  his  rival,  Potanou.  Laudonniere 
had  promised  to  join  Satouriona  against  Outina, 
and  Vasseur  now  promised  to  join  Outina  against 
Potanou,  the  hope  of  finding  gold  being  in  both 
cases  the  source  of  this  impolitic  compliance.  Vas- 
seur went  back  to  Fort  Caroline  with  five  of  the 
men,  and  left  Arlac  with  the  remaining  five  to 
fight  the  battles  of  Outina. 

The  warriors  mustered  to  the  number  of  some 
two  hundred,  and  the  combined  force  of  white 
men  and  red  took  up  their  march.  The  wilder- 
ness through  which  they  passed  has  not  yet  quite 
lost  its  characteristic  features ;  the  bewildering 
monotony  of  the  pine  barrens,  with  their  myriads 
of  bare  gray  trunks,  and  their  canopy  of  peren- 
nial green,  through  which  a  scorching  sun  throws 
spots  and  streaks  of  yellow  light,  here  on  an  un- 
dergrowth of  dwarf  palmetto,  and  there  on  dry 
sands  half  hidden  by  tufted  wire-grass,  and  dotted 
with  the  little  mounds  that  mark  the  burrows 
of  the  gopher ;  or  those  oases  in  the  desert,  the 
"  hummocks,"  with  their  wild,  redundant  vegeta- 
tion, their  entanglement  of  trees,  bushes,  and  vines, 
their  scent  of  flowers  and  song  of  birds  ;  or  the 
broad  sunshine  of  the  savanna,  where  they  waded 
to  the  neck  in  grass  ;  or  the  deep  swamjD,  where, 
out  of  the  black  and  root-encumbered  slough,  rise 
the  huge  buttressed  trunks  of  the  Southern  cypress, 
the  gray  Spanish  moss  drooping  from  every  bough 
and  twig,  wrapping  its  victims  like  a  drapery  of 


1564.]  VASSEUR'S  EXPEDITION.  67 

tattered  cobwebs,  and  slowly  draining  away  their 
life ;  for  even  plants  devour  each  other,  and  play 
their  silent  parts  in  the  universal  tragedy  of 
nature. 

The  allies  held  their  way  through  forest,  sa- 
vanna, and  swamp,  with  Outina's  Indians  in  the 
front,  till  they  neared  the  hostile  villages,  when 
the  modest  warriors  fell  to  the  rear,  and  yielded 
the  post  of  honor  to  the  Frenchmen. 

An  open  country  lay  before  them,  with  rough 
fields  of  maize,  beans,  and  pumpkins,  and  the  pali- 
sades of  an  Indian  town.  Their  approach  was 
seen,  and  the  warriors  of  Potanou  swarmed  out  to 
meet  them ;  but  the  sight  of  the  bearded  strangers, 
the  flash  and  report  of  the  fire-arms,  and  the  fall 
of  their  foremost  chief,  shot  through  the  brain  by 
Arlac,  filled  them  with  consternation,  and  they 
fled  within  their  defences.  Pursuers  and  pursued 
entered  pell-mell  together.  The  place  was  pillaged 
and  burned,  its  inmates  captured  or  killed,  and 
the  victors  returned  triumphant. 


CHAPTER   V 

1564,  1565. 

CONSPIRACY. 

Discontent.  —  Plot  of  La  Roquette.  —  Piratical  Excursion.— 
Sedition.  —  Illness  of  Laudonni^re.  —  Outbreak  of  the 
Mutiny.  — Buccaneering.  —  Order  restored. 

In  the  little  world  of  Fort  Caroline,  a  miniature 
France,  cliques  and  parties,  conspiracy  and  sedi- 
tion, were  fast  stirring  into  life.  Hopes  had  been 
dashed,  and  wild  expectations  had  come  to  naught. 
The  adventurers  had  found,  not  conquest  and  gold, 
but  a  dull  exile  in  a  petty  fort  by  a  hot  and  sickly 
river,  with  hard  labor,  bad  fare,  prospective  fam- 
ine, and  nothing  to  break  the  weary  sameness  but 
some  passing  canoe  or  floating  alligator.  Gath- 
ered in  knots,  they  nursed  each  other's  wrath,  and 
inveighed  against  the  commandant.  Why  are  we 
put  on  half-rations,  when  he  told  us  that  provision 
should  be  made  for  a  full  year  ?  Where  are  the 
reinforcements  and  supplies  that  he  said  should 
follow  us  from  France  ?  And  why  is  he  always 
closeted  with  Ottigny,  Arlac,  and  this  and  that 
favorite,  when  we,  men  of  blood  as  good  as  theirs, 
cannot  gain  his  ear  for  a  moment  ? 

The  young  nobles,  of  whom  there  were  many, 
were   volunteers,    who    had    paid    their    own    ex- 


1564.]  PLOT  OF  LA  ROQUETTE.  69 

penses  in  expectation  of  a  golden  harvest,  and 
they  chafed  in  impatience  and  disgust.  The  reli- 
gious element  in  the  colony  —  unlike  the  former 
Huguenot  emigration  to  Brazil  —  was  evidently 
subordinate.  The  adventurers  thought  more  of 
their  fortunes  than  of  their  faith ;  yet  there  were 
not  a  few  earnest  enough  in  the  doctrine  of  Geneva 
to  complain  loudly  and  bitterly  that  no  ministers 
had  been  sent  wdth  them.  The  burden  of  all 
grievances  was  thrown  upon  Laudonniere,  whose 
greatest  errors  seem  to  have  arisen  from  weak- 
ness and  a  lack  of  judgment,  —  fatal  defects  in 
his  position. 

The  growing  discontent  was  brought  to  a  par- 
tial head  by  one  La  Roquette,  who  gave  out  that, 
high  up  the  river,  he  had  discovered  by  magic  a 
mine  of  gold  and  silver,  which  would  give  each 
of  them  a  share  of  ten  thousand  crowns,  besides 
fifteen  hundred  thousand  for  the  King.  But  for 
Laudonniere,  he  said,  their  fortunes  would  all  be 
made.  He  found  an  ally  in  a  gentleman  named 
Genre,  one  of  Laudonniere's  confidants,  who,  while 
still  professing  fast  adherence  to  his  interests,  is 
charged  by  him  with  plotting  against  his  life. 
"  This  Genre,"  he  says,  "  secretly  enfourmed  the 
Souldiers  that  were  already  suborned  by  La  Ro- 
quette, that  I  would  deprive  them  of  this  great 
gaine,  in  that  I  did  set  them  dayly  on  worke,  not 
sending  them  on  every  side  to  discover  the  Coun- 
treys ;  therefore  that  it  were  a  good  deede  to  dis- 
patch mee  out  of  the  way,  and  to  choose  another 
Captaine  in  my  place."     The  soldiers  listened  too 


70  CONSPIRACY.  [1564. 

well.  They  made  a  flag  of  an  old  shirt,  which 
they  carried  with  them  to  the  rampart  when  they 
went  to  their  work,  at  the  same  time  wearing 
their  arms  ;  and,  pursues  Laudonniere,  "  these  gen- 
tle Souldiers  did  the  same  for  none  other  ende  but 
to  have  killed  mee  and  my  Lieutenant  also,  if  by 
chance  I  had  given  them  any  hard  speeches." 
About  this  time,  overheating  himself,  he  fell  ill, 
and  was  confined  to  his  quarters.  On  this.  Genre 
made  advances  to  the  apothecary,  urging  him  to 
put  arsenic  into  his  medicine ;  but  the  apothecary 
shrugged  his  shoulders.  They  next  devised  a 
scheme  to  blow  him  up  by  hiding  a  keg  of  gun- 
powder under  his  bed ;  but  here,  too,  they  failed. 
Hints  of  Genre's  machinations  reaching  the  ears 
of  Laudonniere,  the  culprit  fled  to  the  woods, 
whence  he  wrote  repentant  letters,  with  full  con- 
fession, to  his  commander. 

Two  of  the  ships  meanwhile  returned  to  France, 
—  the  third,  the  Breton,  remaining  at  anchor  op- 
posite the  fort.  The  malcontents  took  the  oppor- 
tunity to  send  home  charges  against  Laudonniere 
of  peculation,  favoritisna,  and  tyranny.^ 

On  the  fourth  of  September,  Captain  Bourdet, 
apparently  a  private  adventurer,  had  arrived  from 
France  with  a  small  vessel.  When  he  returned, 
about  the  tenth  of  November,  Laudonniere  per- 
suaded him  to  carry  home  seven  or  eight  of  the 
malcontent  soldiers.  Bourdet  left  some  of  his 
sailors  in  their  place.     The  exchange  proved  most 

*  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cronologico,  53 ;  Laudonniere  in  Hakluyt,  III.  400 ; 
Basanier,  61. 


1564.]  SEDITION.  71 

disastrous.  These  pirates  joined  with  others  whom 
they  had  won  over,  stole  Laudonniere's  two  pin- 
naces, and  set  forth  on  a  plundering  excursion  to 
the  West  Indies.  They  took  a  small  Spanish 
vessel  off  the  coast  of  Cuba,  but  were  soon  com- 
pelled by  famine  to  put  into  Havana  and  give 
themselves  up.  Here,  to  make  their  peace  with 
the  authorities,  they  told  all  they  knew  of  the 
position  and  purposes  of  their  countrymen  at 
Fort  Caroline,  and  thus  was  forged  the  thunder- 
bolt soon  to  be  hurled  against  the  wretched  little 
colony. 

On  a  Sunday  morning,  Francois  de  la  Caille  ^ 
came  to  Laudonniere's  quarters,  and,  in  the  name 
of  the  whole  company,  requested  him  to  come 
to  the  parade-ground.  He  complied,  and  issuing 
forth,  his  inseparable  Ottigny  at  his  side,  he  saw 
some  thirty  of  his  officers,  soldiers,  and  gentlemen 
volunteers  waiting  before  the  building  with  fixed 
and  sombre  countenances.  La  Caille,  advancing, 
begged  leave  to  read,  in  behalf  of  the  rest,  a  paper 
which  he  held  in  his  hand.  It  opened  with  pro- 
testations of  duty  and  obedience  ;  next  came  com- 
plaints of  hard  work,  starvation,  and  broken 
promises,  and  a  request  that  the  petitioners  should 
be  allowed  to  embark  in  the  vessel  tying  in  the 
river,  and  cruise  along  the  Spanish  Main,  in  order 
to  procure  provisions  by  purchase  "  or  otherwise."  ^ 

1  La  Caille,  as  before  mentioned,  was  Laudonniere's  sergeant.  The 
feudal  rank  of  sergeant,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  widely  different  from 
the  modern  grade  so  named,  and  was  held  by  men  of  noble  birth.  Le 
Moyne  calls  La  Caille  "  Captain." 

2  Le  Moyne,  Brevis  Narratio, 


72  CONSPIRACY.  [1564. 

In  short,  the  flower  of  the  company  wished  to  turn 
buccaneers. 

Laudonniere  refused,  but  assured  them  that,  as 
soon  as  the  defences  of  the  fort  should  be  com- 
pleted, a  search  should  be  begun  in  earnest  for  the 
Appalachian  gold  mine,  and  that  meanwhile  two 
small  vessels  then  building  on  the  river  should  be 
sent  along  the  coast  to  barter  for  provisions  wdth 
the  Indians.  With  this  answer  they  were  forced 
to  content  themselves ;  but  the  fermentation  con- 
tinued, and  the  plot  thickened.  Their  spokesman, 
La  Caille,  however,  seeing  whither  the  affair 
tended,  broke  with  them,  and,  except  Ottigny, 
Vasseur,  and  the  brave  Swiss,  Arlac,  was  the  only 
officer  who  held  to  his  duty. 

A  severe  illness  again  seized  Laudonniere,  and 
confined  him  to  his  bed.  Improving  their  advan- 
tage, the  malcontents  gained  over  nearly  all  the 
best  soldiers  in  the  fort.  The  ringleader  was  one 
Fourneaux,  a  man  of  good  birth,  but  whom  Le 
Moyne  calls  an  avaricious  hypocrite.  He  drew  up 
a  paper,  to  which  sixty-six  names  w^ere  signed. 
La  Caille  boldly  opposed  the  conspirators,  and 
they  resolved  to  kill  him.  His  room-mate,  Le 
Moyne,  who  had  also  refused  to  sign,  received  a 
hint  of  the  design  from  a  friend ;  upon  which  he 
warned  La  Caille,  who  escaped  to  the  woods.  It 
was  late  in  the  night.  Fourneaux,  with  twenty 
men  armed  to  the  teeth,  knocked  fiercely  at  the 
commandant's  door.  Forcing  an  entrance,  they 
wounded  a  gentleman  who  opposed  them,  and 
crowded  around  the  sick  man's  bed.     Fourneaux, 


156-l.J  MUTINY.  73 

armed  with  steel  cap  and  cuirass,  held  his  arque- 
biise  to  Laudonniere's  throat,  and  demanded  leave 
to  go  on  a  cruise  among  the  Spanish  islands.  The 
latter  kept  his  presence  of  mind,  and  remonstrated 
with  some  firmness ;  on  which,  with  oaths  and 
menaces,  they  dragged  him  from  his  bed,  put  him 
in  fetters,  carried  him  out  to  the  gate  of  the  fort, 
placed  him  in  a  boat,  and  rowed  him  to  the  ship 
anchored  in  the  river. 

Two  other  gangs  at  the  same  time  A^sited  Ot- 
tigny  and  Arlac,  whom  they  disarmed,  and  ordered 
to  keep  their  rooms  till  the  night  following,  on 
pain  of  death.  Smaller  parties  were  busied,  mean- 
while, in  disarming  all  the  loyal  soldiers.  The 
fort  Avas  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  conspira- 
tors. Fourneaux  drew  up  a  commission  for  his 
meditated  West  India  cruise,  which  he  required 
Laudonniere  to  sign.  The  sick  commandant,  im- 
prisoned in  the  ship,  with  one  attendant,  at  first 
refused ;  but,  receiving  a  message  from  tbe  muti- 
neers, that,  if  he  did  not  comply,  they  would 
come  on  board  and  cut  his  throat,  he  at  length 
yielded. 

The  buccaneers  now  bestirred  themselves  to  fin- 
ish the  two  small  vessels  on  which  the  carpenters 
had  been  for  some  time  at  work.  In  a  fortnight 
they  were  ready  for  sea,  armed  and  provided  with 
the  King's  cannon,  munitions,  and  stores.  Tren- 
chant, an  excellent  pilot,  was  forced  to  join  the 
party.  Their  favorite  object  was  the  plunder  of 
a  certain  church  on  one  of  the  Spanish  islands, 
which  they  proposed  to  assail  during  the  midnight 


74  CONSPIRACY.  [1565. 

mass  of  Christmas,  whereby  a  triple  end  would  be 
achieved  :  first,  a  rich  booty  ;  secondly-  the  punish- 
ment of  idolatry ;  thirdly,  vengeance  on  the  arch- 
enemies of  their  party  and  their  faith.  They  set 
sail  on  the  eighth  of  December,  taunting  those  who 
remained,  calling  them  greenhorns,  and  threaten- 
ing condign  punishment  if,  on  their  triumphant 
return,  they  should  be  refused  free  entrance  to 
the  fort.i 

They  were  no  sooner  gone  than  the  unfortunate 
Laudonniere  was  gladdened  in  his  solitude  by  the 
approach  of  his  fast  friends  Ottigny  and  Arlac, 
who  conveyed  him  to  the  fort  and  reinstated  him. 
The  entire  command  was  reorganized,  and  new 
officers  appointed.  The  colony  was  wofully  de- 
pleted ;  but  the  bad  blood  had  been  drawn  off,  and 
thenceforth  all  internal  danger  was  at  an  end.  In 
finishing  the  fort,  in  building  two  new  vessels  to 
replace  those  of  which  they  had  been  robbed,  and 
in  various  intercourse  with  the  tribes  far  and  near, 
the  weeks  passed  until  the  twenty-fifth  of  March, 
when  an  Indian  came  in  with  the  tidings  that  a 
vessel  was  hovering  off  the  coast.  Laudonniere 
sent  to  reconnoitre.  The  stranger  lay  anchored 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  She  was  a  Spanish 
brigantine,  manned  by  the  returning  mutineers, 
starving,  downcast,  and  anxious  to  make  terms. 
Yet,  as  their  posture  seemed  not  wholly  pacific, 
Laudonniere  sent  down  La  Caille,  with  thirty  sol- 
diers concealed  at  the  bottom  of  his  little  vessel. 

^  Le  Moyne,  Brevis  Narratio.  Compare  Laudonniere  in  Basanier, 
fol.  63-66. 


1565.]  BUCCANEERING.  75 

Seeing  only  two  or  three  on  deck,  the  pirates 
allowed  her  to  come  alongside ;  when,  to  their 
amazement,  they  were  boarded  and  taken  before 
they  could  snatch  their  arms.  Discomfited,  woe- 
begone, and  drmik,  they  were  landed  under  a 
guard.  Their  story  was  soon  told.  Fortune  had 
flattered  them  at  the  outset,  and  on  the  coast  of 
Cuba  they  took  a  brigantine  laden  with  wine  and 
stores.  Embarking  in  her,  they  next  fell  in  with 
a  caravel,  which  also  they  captured.  Landing  at 
a  village  in  Jamaica,  they  plundered  and  caroused 
for  a  week,  and  had  hardly  re-embarked  when 
they  met  a  small  vessel  having  on  board  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  island.^  She  made  desperate  fight, 
but  was  taken  at  last,  and  with  her  a  rich  booty. 
They  thought  to  put  the  governor  to  ransom ; 
but  the  astute  official  deceived  them,  and,  on 
pretence  of  negotiating  for  the  sum  demanded,  — 
together  with  "  four  or  six  parrots,  and  as  many 
monkeys  of  the  sort  called  sanguins,  which  are 
very  beautiful,"  and  for  which  his  captors  had 
also  bargained,  —  contrived  to  send  instructions 
to  his  wife.  Hence  it  happened  that  at  daybreak 
three  armed  vessels  fell  upon  them,  retook  the 
prize,  and  captured  or  killed  all  the  pirates  but 
twenty-six,  who,  cutting  the  moorings  of  their 
brigantine,  fled  out  to  sea.  Among  these  was  the 
ringleader,  Fourneaux,  and  also  the  pilot.  Tren- 
chant, who,  eager  to  return  to  Fort  Caroline, 
whence   he   had    been   forcibly   taken,    succeeded 

1  Laudonniere  in  Basanier,  fol.  66.     Le  Moyne  says  that  it  was  the 
governor  of  Havana. 


76  CONSriRACY  ri565. 

during  the  night  in  bringing  the  vessel  to  the 
coast  of  Florida.  Great  were  the  wrath  and  con- 
sternation of  the  pirates  when  they  saw  their 
dilemma ;  for,  having  no  provisions,  they  must 
either  starve  or  seek  succor  at  the  fort.  They 
chose  the  latter  course,  and  bore  away  for  the 
St.  John's.  A  few  casks  of  Spanish  wine  yet  re- 
mained, and  nobles  and  soldiers,  fraternizing  in 
the  common  peril  of  a  halter,  joined  in  a  last 
carouse.  As  the  wine  mounted  to  their  heads,  in 
the  mirth  of  drink  and  desperation,  they  enacted 
their  own  trial.  One  personated  the  judge,  an- 
other the  commandant ;  witnesses  were  called, 
with  arguments  and  speeches  on  either  side. 

"  Say  what  you  like,"  said  one  of  them,  after 
hearing  the  counsel  for  the  defence ;  "  but  if  Lau- 
donniere  does  not  hang  us  all,  I  will  never  call 
him  an  honest  man." 

They  had  some  hope  of  getting  provisions  from 
the  Indians  at  the  raouth  of  the  river,  and  then 
putting  to  sea  again ;  but  this  was  frustrated  by 
La  Caille's  sudden  attack.  A  court-martial  was 
called  near  Fort  Caroline,  and  all  were  found 
guilty.  Fourneaux  and  three  others  were  sen- 
tenced to  be  hanged. 

"  Comrades,"  said  one  of  the  condemned,  ap- 
pealing to  the  soldiers,  "  will  you  stand  by  and  see 
us  butchered  ? " 

"  These,"  retorted  Laudonniere,  "  are  no  com- 
rades of  mutineers  and  rebels." 

At  the  request  of  his  followers,  however,  he 
commuted  the  sentence  to  shooting. 


1565.]  ORDER   RESTORED.  77 

A  file  of  men,  a  rattling  volley,  and  the  debt 
of  justice  was  paid.  The  bodies  were  hanged  on 
gibbets,  at  the  river's  mouth,  and  order  reigned 
at  Fort  Caroline.^ 

^  The  above  is  from  Le  Moyue  aud  Laudonuiere,  who  agree  in  essential 
points,  but  differ  in  a  few  details.  The  artist  criticises  the  commandant 
freely.     Compare  Hawkins  in  Haklujt,  HI.  614. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

1564,  1565. 
FAMINE.  —  WAR.  —  SUCCOR. 

La   Roche   FerriIiee.  —  Pierre    Gambie.  —  The   King   of   Calos. 

—  Ottigny's   Expedition. —  Starvation. —  Efforts   to  escape 
FROM   Florida.  —  Indians   unfriendly.  —  Seizure   of   Outina. 

—  Attempts   to    extort    Ransom.  —  Ambuscade.  —  Battle.  — 
Desperation   of   the   French.  — Sir  John  Hawkins  relieves 

THEM.  RiBAUT      BRINGS      REINFORCEMENTS.  AkRIVAL     OF     THE 

Spaniards. 

While  the  mutiny  was  brewing,  one  La  Roche 
Ferriere.had  been  sent  out  as  an  agent  or  emissary 
among  the  more  distant  tribes.  Sagacious,  bold, 
and  restless,  he  pushed  his  way  from  town  to 
town,  and  pretended  to  have  reached  the  myste- 
rious mountains  of  Appalache.  He  sent  to  the 
fort  mantles  woven  with  feathers,  quivers  covered 
with  choice  furs,  arrows  tipped  with  gold,  wedges 
of  a  green  stone  like  beryl  or  emerald,  and  other 
trophies  of  his  wanderings.  A  gentleftian  named 
Grotaut  took  up  the  quest,  and  penetrated  to  the 
dominions  of  Hostaqua,  who,  it  was  pretended, 
could  muster  three  or  four  thousand  warriors, 
and  who  promised,  with  the  aid  of  a  hundred 
arquebusiers,  to  conquer  all  the  kings  of  the  ad- 
jacent mountains,  and  subject  them  and  their 
gold  mines  to  the  rule  of  the  French.  A  hum- 
bler adventurer  was  Pierre  Gambie,  a  robust  and 
daring  youth,  who  had    been  brought  up  in  the 


1564.]  THE   KING  OF    CALOS.  79 

household  of  Coligny,  and  was  now  a  soldier 
under  Laudonniere.  The  latter  gave  him  leave 
to  trade  with  the  Indians,  —  a  privilege  which 
he  used  so  well  that  he  grew  rich  with  his 
traffic,  became  prime  favorite  with  the  chief  of 
the  island  of  Edelano,  married  his  daughter,  and, 
in  his  absence,  reigned  in  his  stead.  But,  as  his 
sway  verged  towards  despotism,  his  subjects  took 
offence,  and  split  his  head  with  a  hatchet. 

During  the  winter,  Indians  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Cape  Canaveral  brought  to  the  fort  two 
Spaniards,  wrecked  fifteen  years  before  on  the 
southwestern  extremity  of  the  peninsula.  They 
were  clothed  like  the  Indians,  —  in  other  words, 
were  not  clothed  at  all,  —  and  their  uncut  hair 
streamed  loose  down  their  backs.  They  brought 
strange  tales  of  those  among  whom  they  had 
dwelt.  They  told  of  the  King  of  Calos,  on 
whose  domains  they  had  been  wrecked,  a  chief 
mighty  in  stature  and  in  power.  In  one  of  his 
villages  was  a  pit,  six  feet  deep  and  as  wide  as 
a  hogshead,  filled  with  treasure  gathered  from 
Spanish  wrecks  on  adjacent  reefs  and  keys.  The 
monarch  was  a  priest  too,  and  a  magician,  with 
power  over  the  elements.  Each  year  he  with- 
drew from  the  public  gaze  to  hold  converse  in 
secret  with  supernal  or  infernal  powers ;  and  each 
year  he  sacrificed  to  his  gods  one  of  the  Spaniards 
whom  the  fortune  of  the  sea  had  cast  upon  his 
shores.  The  name  of  the  tribe  is  preserved  in 
that  of  the  River  Caloosa.  In  close  league  with 
him  was  the  mighty  Oathcaqua,    dwelling   near 


80  FAMINE.  — ^YAR.  — SUCCOR,  11565, 

Cape  Canaveral,  who  gave  his  daughter,  a  maiden 
of  wondrous  beauty,  in  marriage  to  his  great  ally. 
But  as  the  bride  with  her  bridesmaids  was  jour- 
neying towards  Calos,  escorted  by  a  chosen  band, 
they  were  assailed  by  a  wild  and  warlike  race, 
inhabitants  of  an  island  called  Sarrope,  in  the 
midst  of  a  lake,  who  put  the  warriors  to  flight, 
bore  the  maidens  captive  to  their  watery  fastness, 
espoused  them  all,  and,  we  are  assured,  "loved 
them  above  all  measure."  ^ 

Outina,  taught  by  Arlac  the  efficacy  of  the 
French  fire-arms,  begged  for  ten  arquebusiers  to 
aid  him  on  a  new  raid  among  the  villages  of 
Potanou,  again  alluring  his  greedy  allies  by  the 
assurance,  that,  thus  reinforced,  he  would  con- 
quer for  them  a  free  access  to  the  phantom  gold 
mines  of  Appalache.  Ottigny  set  forth  on  this 
fool's  errand  with  thrice  the  force  demanded. 
Three  hundred  Thiniagoas  and  thirty  Frenchmen 
took  up  their  march  through  the  pine  barrens. 
Outina' s  conjurer  was  of  the  number,  and  had 
wellnigh  ruined  the  enterprise.  Kneeling  on  Ot- 
tigny's  shield,  that  he  might  not  touch  the  earth, 
with  hideous  grimaces,  bowlings,  and  contortions, 
he  wrought  himself  into  a  prophetic  frenzy,  and 
proclaimed  to  the  astounded  warriors  that  to  ad- 
vance farther  would  be  destruction.^  Outina  was 
for  instant  retreat,  but  Ottigny' s  sarcasms  shamed 
him  into  a  show  of  courage.     Again  they  moved 

1  Laudonniere  in  Hakluyt,  III.  406.  Brinton,  Floridian  Peninsula, 
thinks  there  is  truth  in  the  story,  and  that  Lake  Weir,  in  Marion  County, 
is  the  Lake  of  Sarrope.     I  give  these  romantic  tales  as  I  find  them. 

2  This  scene  is  the  subject  of  Plate  XII.  of  Le  Moyne. 


1565.]  STARVATION.  81 

forward,  and  soon  encountered  Potanou  with  all 
his  host.^  The  arquebuse  did  its  work ;  panic, 
slaughter,  and  a  plentiful  harvest  of  scalps.  But 
no  persuasion  could  induce  Outina  to  follow  up 
his  victory.  He  went  home  to  dance  round  his 
trophies,  and  the  French  returned  disgusted  to 
Fort  Caroline. 

And  now,  in  ample  measure,  the  French  began 
to  reap  the  harvest  of  their  folly.  Conquest,  gold, 
and  military  occupation  had  alone  been  their  aims. 
Not  a  rood  of  ground  had  been  stirred  with  the 
spade.  Their  stores  were  consumed,  and  the  ex- 
pected supplies  had  not  come.  The  Indians,  too, 
were  hostile.  Satouriona  hated  them  as  allies  of 
his  enemies ;  and  his  tribesmen,  robbed  and  mal- 
treated by  the  lawless  soldiers,  exulted  in  their 
miseries.  Yet  in  these,  their  dark  and  subtle 
neighbors,  was  their  only  hope. 

May-day  came,  the  third  anniversary  of  the  day 
when  Ribaut  and  his  companions,  full  of  delighted 
anticipation,  had  first  explored  the  flowery  borders 
of  the  St.  John's.  The  contrast  was  deplorable ; 
for  within  the  precinct  of  Fort  Caroline  a  home- 
sick, squalid  band,  dejected  and  worn,  dragged 
their  shrunken  limbs  about  the  sun-scorched  area, 
or  lay  stretched  in  listless  wretchedness  under  the 
shade  of  the  barracks.  Some  were  digging  roots 
in  the  forest,  or  gathering  a  kind  of  sorrel  upon 

1  Le  Moyne  drew  a  picture  of  the  fight  (Plate  XIII.).  In  the  fore- 
ground Ottigny  is  engaged  in  single  combat  with  a  gigantic  savage,  who, 
with  club  upheaved,  aims  a  deadly  stroke  at  the  plumed  helmet  of  his  foe  ; 
but  the  latter,  with  target  raised  to  guard  his  head,  darts  under  the  arms 
of  the  naked  Goliath,  and  transfixes  him  with  his  sword. 

6 


82  FAMINE.  —  WAR.  -  SUCCOR.  [1565. 

the  meadows.  If  tliey  had  had  any  skill  in  hunt- 
ing and  fishing,  the  river  and  the  woods  would 
have  supplied  their  needs ;  but  in  this  point,  as  in 
others,  they  were  lamentably  unfit  for  the  work 
they  had  taken  in  hand.  "  Our  miserie,"  says 
Laudonniere,  ''  was  so  great  that  one  was  found 
that  gathered  up  all  the  fish  bones  that  he  could 
finde,  which  he  dried  and  beate  into  powder  to 
make  bread  thereof.  The  effects  of  this  hideous 
famine  appeared  incontinently  among  us,  for  our 
bones  eftsoones  beganne  to  cleave  so  neere  unto 
the  skinne,  that  the  most  part  of  the  souldiers  had 
their  skinnes  pierced  thorow  with  them  in  many 
partes  of  their  bodies."  Yet,  giddy  with  weak- 
ness, they  dragged  themselves  in  turn  to  the  top 
of  St.  John's  Bluff,  straining  their  eyes  across  the 
sea  to  descry  the  anxiously  expected  sail. 

Had  Coligny  left  them  to  perish  ?  or  had  some 
new  tempest  of  calamity,  let  loose  upon  France, 
drowned  the  memory  of  their  exile  ?  In  vain  the 
watchman  on  the  hill  surveyed  the  solitude  of 
waters.  A  deep  dejection  fell  upon  them,  —  a 
dejection  that  would  have  sunk  to  despair  could 
their  eyes  have  pierced  the  future. 

The  Indians  had  left  the  neighborhood,  but 
from  time  to  time  brought  in  meagre  supplies 
of  fish,  which  they  sold  to  the  famished  soldiers 
at  exorbitant  prices.  Lest  they  should  pay  the 
penalty  of  their  extortion,  they  would  not  enter 
the  fort,  but  lay  in  their  canoes  in  the  river,  be- 
yond gunshot,  waiting  for  their  customers  to  come 
out  to  them.      "  Oftentimes,"   says   Laudonniere, 


1565.]  EFFORTS   TO   ESCAPE.  83 

"  our  poor  soldier.s  were  constrained  to  give  away 
the  very  shirts  from  their  backs  to  get  one  fisli. 
If  at  any  time  they  shewed  unto  the  savages  the 
excessive  price  which  they  tooke,  these  villaines 
would  answere  them  roughly  and  churlishly :  If 
thou  make  so  great  account  of  thy  marchandise, 
eat  it,  and  we  will  eat  our  fish :  then  fell  they  out 
a  laughing,  and  mocked  us  with  open  throat." 

The  spring  wore  away,  and  no  relief  appeared. 
One  thought  now  engrossed  the  colonists,  that 
of  return  to  France.  Vasseur's  ship,  the  Bre- 
ton, still  remained  in  the  river,  and  they  had 
also  the  Spanish  brigantine  brought  by  the  muti- 
neers. But  these  vessels  were  insufficient,  and 
they  prepared  to  build  a  new  one.  The  energy 
of  reviving  hope  lent  new  life  to  their  exhausted 
frames.  Some  gathered  pitch  in  the  pine  forests  ; 
some  made  charcoal ;  some  cut  and  sawed  timber. 
The  maize  began  to  ripen,  and  this  brought  some 
relief  ;  but  the  Indians,  exasperated  and  greedy, 
sold  it  with  reluctance,  and  murdered  two  half- 
famished  Frenchmen  who  gathered  a  handful  in 
the  fields. 

The  colonists  applied  to  Outina,  who  owed  them 
two  victories.  The  result  was  a  churlish  message 
and  a  niggardly  supply  of  corn,  coupled  with  an 
invitation  to  aid  him  against  an  insurgent  chief, 
one  Astina,  the  plunder  of  whose  villages  would 
yield  an  ample  supply.  The  offer  was  accepted. 
Ottigny  and  Vasseur  set  out,  but  were  grossly 
deceived,  led  against  a  different  enemy,  and  sent 
back  empty-handed  and  half-starved. 


84  FAMINE.  — WAR.  — SUCCOR.  [156.5. 

They  returned  to  the  fort,  in  the  words  of  Lau- 
donniere,  ^'  angry  and  pricked  deepely  to  the  quicke 
for  being  so  mocked,"  and,  joined  by  all  their  com- 
rades, fiercely  demanded  to  be  led  against  Outina, 
to  seize  him,  punish  his  insolence,  and  extort  from 
his  fears  the  supplies  which  could  not  be  looked 
for  from  his  gratitude.  The  commandant  was 
forced  to  comply.  Those  who  could  bear  the 
weight  of  their  armor  put  it  on,  embarked,  to 
the  number  of  fifty,  in  two  barges,  and  sailed  up 
the  river  under  Laudonniere  himself.  Havino; 
reached  Outina' s  landing,  they  marched  inland, 
entered  his  village,  surrounded  his  mud-plastered 
palace,  seized  him  amid  the  yells  and  bowlings  of 
his  subjects,  and  led  him  prisoner  to  their  boats. 
Here,  anchored  in  mid-stream,  they  demanded  a 
supply  of  corn  and  beans  as  the  price  of  his 
ransom. 

The  alarm  spread.  Excited  warriors,  bedaubed 
with  red,  came  thronging  from  all  his  villages. 
The  forest  along  the  shore  was  full  of  them ;  and 
the  wife  of  the  chief,  followed  by  all  the  women 
of  the  place,  uttered  moans  and  outcries  from  the 
strand.  Yet  no  ransom  was  offered,  since,  reason- 
ing from  their  own  instincts,  they  never  doubted 
that,  after  the  price  was  paid,  the  captive  would 
be  put  to  death. 

Laudonniere  waited  two  days,  and  then  de- 
scended the  river  with  his  prisoner.  In  a  rude 
chamber  of  Fort  Caroline  the  sentinel  stood  his 
guard,  pike  in  hand,  while  before  him  crouched 
the  captive  chief,  mute,  impassive,  and  brooding 


1565.]  THE  CAPTIVE  OUTINA.  85 

on  his  woes.  His  old  enemy,  Satouriona,  keen 
as  a  hound  on  the  scent  of  prey,  tried,  by  great 
offers,  to  bribe  Laudonniere  to  give  Oiitina  into 
his  hands ;  but  the  French  captain  refused,  treated 
his  prisoner  kindly,  and  assured  him  of  immediate 
freedom  on  payment  of  the  ransom. 

Meanwhile  his  captivity  was  bringing  grievous 
affliction  on  his  tribesmen ;  for,  despairing  of  his 
return,  they  mustered  for  the  election  of  a  new 
chief.  Party  strife  ran  high.  Some  were  for  a 
boy,  his  son,  and  some  for  an  ambitious  kinsman. 
Outina  chafed  in  his  prison  on  learning  these  dis- 
sensions ;  and,  eager  to  convince  his  over-hasty 
subjects  that  their  chief  still  lived,  he  was  so  pro- 
fuse of  promises  that  he  was  again  embarked  and 
carried  up  the  river. 

At  no  great  distance  from  Lake  George,  a  small 
affluent  of  the  St.  John's  gave  access  by  water  to 
a  point  within  six  French  leagues  of  Outina's  prin- 
cipal town.  The  two  barges,  crowded  with  sol- 
diers, and  bearing  also  the  captive  Outina,  rowed 
up  this  little  stream.  Indians  awaited  them  at 
the  landing,  with  gifts  of  bread,  beans,  and  fish, 
and  piteous  prayers  for  their  chief,  upon  whose 
liberation  they  promised  an  ample  supply  of  corn. 
As  they  were  deaf  to  all  other  terms,  Laudonniere 
yielded,  released  his  prisoner,  and  received  in  his 
place  two  hostages,  who  were  fast  bound  in  the 
boats.  Ottigny  and  Arlac,  with  a  strong  detach- 
ment of  arquebusiers,  went  to  receive  the  promised 
supplies,  for  which,  from  the  first,  full  payment  in 
merchandise  had  been  offered.     On  their  arrival 


86  FAMINE.  — WAR.  — SUCCOR.  [1565. 

at  the  village,  they  filed  into  the  great  central 
lodge,  within  whose  dusky  precincts  were  gath- 
ered the  magnates  of  the  tribe.  Council-chamber, 
forum,  banquet-hall,  and  dancing-hall  all  in  one, 
the  spacious  structure  could  hold  half  the  popula- 
tion. Here  the  French  made  their  abode.  With 
armor  buckled,  and  arquebuse  matches  lighted, 
they  watched  with  anxious  eyes  the  strange,  dim 
scene,  half  revealed  by  the  daylight  that  streamed 
down  through  the  hole  at  the  apex  of  the  roof. 
Tall,  dark  forms  stalked  to  and  fro,  with  quivers 
at  their  backs,  and  bows  and  arrows  in  their 
hands,  while  groups,  crouched  in  the  shadow  be- 
yond, eyed  the  hated  guests  with  inscrutable  vis- 
ages, and  malignant,  sidelong  eyes.  Corn  came 
in  slowly,  but  warriors  mustered  fast.  The  vil- 
lage without  was  full  of  them.  The  French  offi- 
cers grew  anxious,  and  urged  the  chiefs  to  greater 
alacrity  in  collecting  the  promised  ransom.  The 
answer  boded  no  good  :  "  Our  women  are  afraid 
when  they  see  the  matches  of  jowy  guns  burn- 
ing. Put  them  out,  and  they  will  bring  the  corn 
faster." 

Outina  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  At  length  they 
learned  that  he  was  in  one  of  the  small  huts  ad- 
jacent. Several  of  the  officers  went  to  him,  com- 
plaining of  the  slow  payment  of  his  ransom.  The 
kindness  of  his  captors  at  Fort  Caroline  seemed  to 
have  won  his  heart.  He  replied,  that  such  was 
the  rage  of  his  subjects  that  he  could  no  longer 
control  them ;  that  the  French  were  in  danger  ; 
and  that  he  had  seen  arrows  stuck  in  the  ground 


:S65.]  AMBUSCADE.  — BATTLE.  87 

by  the  side  of  the  path,  in  token  that  war  was 
declared.  The  peril  was  thickening  hourly,  and 
Ottigny  resolved  to  regain  the  boats  while  there 
was  yet  time. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  July,  at  nine  in  the 
morning,  he  set  his  men  in  order.  Each  shoulder- 
ing a  sack  of  corn,  they  marched  through  the  rows 
of  huts  that  surrounded  the  great  lodge,  and  out 
betwixt  the  overlapping  extremities  of  the  palisade 
that  encircled  the  town.  Before  them  stretched  a 
wide  avenue,  three  or  four  hundred  paces  long, 
flanked  by  a  natural  growth  of  trees,  —  one  of 
those  curious  monuments  of  native  industry  to 
which  allusion  has  already  been  made.^  Here 
Ottigny  halted  and  formed  his  line  of  march. 
Arlac,  with  eight  matchlock  men,  was  sent  in 
advance,  and  flanking  parties  were  thrown  into 
the  woods  on  either  side.  Ottigny  told  his  sol- 
diers that,  if  the  Indians  meant  to  attack  them, 
they  were  probably  in  ambush  at  the  other  end 
of  the  avenue.  He  was  right.  As  Arlac' s  party 
reached  the  spot,  the  whole  pack  gave  tongue  at 
once.  The  war-whoop  rose,  and  a  tempest  of 
stone-headed  arrows  clattered  against  the  breast- 
plates of  the  French,  or,  scorching  like  fire,  tore 
through  their  unprotected  limbs.  They  stood  firm, 
and  sent  back  their  shot  so  steadily  that  several  of 
the  assailants  were  laid  dead,  and  the  rest,  two  or 
tliree  hundred  in  number,  gave  way  as  Ottigny 
came  up  with  his  men. 

They  moved  on  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  through 

1  See  ante,  p.  58. 


88  FAMINE.  — WAR.  ^SUCCOR.  [1565. 

a  country,  as  it  seems,  comparatively  open,  wiien 
again  tlie  war-cry  pealed  in  front,  and  three 
hundred  savages  bounded  to  the  assault.  Their 
whoops  were  echoed  from  the  rear.  It  was  the 
party  whom  Arlac  had  just  repulsed,  and  who, 
leaping  and  showering  their  arrows,  were  rushing 
on  again  with  a  ferocity  restrained  only  by  their 
lack  of  courage.  There  was  no  panic  among  the 
French.  The  men  threw  down  their  bags  of  corn, 
and  took  to  their  weapons.  They  blew  their 
matches,  and,  under  two  excellent  officers,  stood 
well  to  their  work.  The  Indians,  on  their  part, 
showed  good  discipline  after  their  fashion,  and 
were  perfectly  under  the  control  of  their  chiefs. 
With  cries  that  imitated  the  yell  of  owls,  the 
scream  of  cougars,  and  the  howl  of  wolves,  they 
ran  up  in  successive  bands,  let  fly  their  arrows, 
and  instantly  fell  back,  giving  place  to  others.  At 
the  sight  of  the  levelled  arquebuse,  they  dropped 
flat  on  the  ground.  Whenever  the  French  charged 
upon  them,  sword  in  hand,  they  fled  through  the 
woods  like  foxes ;  and  whenever  the  march  was 
resumed,  the  arrows  were  showering  again  upon 
the  flanks  and  rear  of  the  retiring  band.  As  they 
fell,  the  soldiers  picked  them  up  and  broke  them. 
Thus,  beset  with  swarming  savages,  the  handful 
of  Frenchmen  pushed  slowly  onward,  fighting  as 
they  went. 

The  Indians  gradually  drew  off,  and  the  forest 
was  silent  again.  Two  of  the  French  had  been 
killed  and  twenty-two  wounded,  several  so  se- 
verely that  they  were  supported  to  the  boats  with 


1565.]  FRIENDS   OR  FOESl  89 

the  utmost  difficulty.  Of  the  corn,  two  bags  only 
had  been  brought  off . 

Famine  and  desperation  now  reigned  at  Fort 
Caroline.  The  Indians  had  killed  two  of  the  car- 
penters ;  hence  long  delay  in  the  finishing  o'f  the 
new  ship.  They  would  not  wait,  but  resolved  to 
put  to  sea  in  the  Breton  and  the  brigantine.  The 
problem  was  to  find  food  for  the  voyage ;  for  now, 
in  their  extremity,  they  roasted  and  ate  snakes,  a 
delicacy  in  which  the  neighborhood  abounded. 

On  the  third  of  August,  Laudonniere,  perturbed 
and  oppressed,  was  walking  on  the  hill,  when, 
looking  seaward,  he  saw  a  sight  that  sent  a  thrill 
through  his  exhausted  frame.  A  great  ship  was 
standing  towards  the  river's  mouth.  Then  an- 
other came  in  sight,  and  another,  and  another. 
He  despatched  a  messenger  with  the  tidings  to 
the  fort  below.  The  languid  forms  of  his  sick 
and  despairing  men  rose  and  danced  for  joy,  and 
voices  shrill  with  weakness  joined  in  wild  laugh- 
ter and  acclamation,  insomuch,  he  says,  "  that 
one  would  have  thought  them  to  bee  out  of  their 
wittes." 

A  doubt  soon  mingled  with  their  joy.  Who 
were  the  strangers  ?  Were  they  the  friends  so 
long  hoped  for  in  vain  ?  or  were  they  Spaniards, 
their  dreaded  enemies  ?  They  were  neither.  The 
foremost  ship  was  a  stately  one,  of  seven  hundred 
tons,  a  great  burden  at  that  day.  She  was  named 
the  Jesus ;  and  with  her  were  three  smaller  ves- 
sels, the  Solomon,  the  Tiger,  and  the  Swallow. 
Their  commander   was   "  a  right  worshipful   and 


90  FAMINE.  —  WAR.  —  SUCCOR  [  15G:). 

valiant  kniglit,"  —  for  so  the  record  styles  him,  — 
a  pious  man  and  a  prudent,  to  judge  him  by  the 
orders  he  gave  his  crew  when,  ten  months  before, 
he  sailed  out  of  Plymouth  :  "  Serve  God  daily, 
love  'one  another,  preserve  your  victuals,  beware 
of  fire,  and  keepe  good  companie."  Nor  were 
the  crew  unworthy  the  graces  of  their  chief ;  for 
the  devout  chronicler  of  the  voyage  ascribes  their 
deliverance  from  the  perils  of  the  sea  to  "  the 
Almightie  God,  who  never  suffereth  his  Elect  to 
perish." 

Who  then  were  they,  this  chosen  band,  serenely 
conscious  of  a  special  Providential  care  ?  They 
were  the  pioneers  of  that  detested  traffic  destined 
to  inoculate  with  its  infection  nations  yet  unborn, 
the  parent  of  discord  and  death,  filling  half  a  con- 
tinent with  the  tramp  of  armies  and  the  clash  of 
fratricidal  swords.  Their  chief  was  Sir  John  Haw- 
kins, father  of  the  English  slave-trade. 

He  had  been  to  the  coast  of  Guinea,  where  he 
bought  and  kidnapped  a  cargo  of  slaves.  These 
he  had  sold  to  the  jealous  Spaniards  of  Hispaniola, 
forcing  them,  with  sword,  matchlock,  and  culve- 
rin,  to  grant  him  free  trade,  and  then  to  sign  tes- 
timonials that  he  had  borne  himself  as  became  a 
peaceful  merchant.  Prospering  greatly  by  this 
summary  commerce,  but  distressed  by  the  want 
of  water,  he  had  put  into  the  River  of  May  to 
obtain  a  supply. 

Anions:  the  ruo;o;ed  heroes  of  the  British  marine, 
Sir  John  stood  in  the  front  rank,  and  along  with 
Drake,  his  relative,  is  extolled  as  "  a  man  borne 


1565.]  SIR  JOHN  HAWKINS.  91 

for  the  honour  of  the  English  name.  .  .  .  Neither 
did  the  West  of  England  yeeld  such  an  Indian 
Neptunian  paire  as  were  these  two  Ocean  peeres, 
Hawkins  and  Drake."  So  writes  the  old  chroni- 
cler, Purchas,  and  all  England  was  of  his  thinking. 
A  hardy  and  skilful  seaman,  a  bold  fighter,  a  loyal 
friend  and  a  stern  enemy,  overbearing  towards 
equals,  but  kind,  in  his  bluff  way,  -to  those  beneath 
him,  rude  in  speech,  somewhat  crafty  withal  and 
avaricious,  he  buffeted  his  way  to  riches  and  fame, 
and  died  at  last  full  of  years  and  honor.  As  for 
the  abject  humanity  stowed  between  the  reek- 
ing decks  of  the  ship  Jesus,  they  were  merely  in 
his  eyes  so  many  black  cattle  tethered  for  the 
market.^ 

Hawkins  came  up  the  river  in  a  pinnace,  and 
landed  at  Fort  Caroline,  accompanied,  says  Lau- 
donniere,  "  with  gentlemen  honorably  apparelled, 
yet  unarmed."  Between  the  Huguenots  and  the 
English  Puritans  there  was  a  double  tie  of  sym- 
pathy.    Both  hated  priests,  and  both  hated  Span- 

1  For  Hawkins,  see  the  three  narratives  in  Hakluyt,  III.  594;  Pur- 
chas, IV.  1177  ;  Stow,  Chron.,  807  ;  Bio/j.  Brituii.,  Art.  Hawkins  ;  Ander- 
son, Hisfori/  of  Commerce,  I.  400. 

He  was  not  knighted  until  after  the  voyage  of  1564-65  ;  hence  there 
is  an  anachronism  in  the  text.  As  he  was  held  "  to  have  opened  a  new 
trade,"  he  was  entitled  to  bear  as  his  crest  a  "  Moor  "  or  negro,  bound 
with  a  cord.  In  Fairbairn's  Crests  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  where  it 
is  figured,  it  is  described,  not  as  a  negro,  but  as  a  "  naked  man."  In 
Burke's  Landed  Gentri/,  it  is  said  that  Sir  John  obtained  it  in  honor  of  a 
great  victory  over  the  Moors !  His  only  African  victories  were  in  kid- 
napping raids  on  negro  villages.  In  Letters  on  Certain  Passages  in  the  Life 
of  Sir  John  Hawkins,  the  coat  is  engraved  in  detail.  The  "  demi-Moor  " 
has  the  tliick  lips,  the  flat  nose,  and  the  wool  of  the  unequivocal  negro. 

Sir  John  became  Treasurer  of  the  Royal  Navy  and  Rear-Admiral,  and 
founded  a  marine  hospital  at  Chatham. 


92  FAMINE,  — WAR.  ^SUCCOR.  [1565. 

iards.  Wakening  from  their  apathetic  misery, 
the  starveling  garrison  hailed  him  as  a  deliv- 
erer. Yet  Hawkins  secretly  rejoiced  when  he 
learned  their  purpose  to  abandon  Florida ;  for  al- 
though, not  to  tempt  his  cupidity,  they  hid  from 
him  the  secret  of  their  Appalachian  gold  mine, 
he  coveted  for  his  royal  mistress  the  possession  of 
this  rich  domain.  He  shook  his  head,  however, 
when  he  saw  the  vessels  in  which  they  proposed 
to  embark,  and  offered  them  all  a  free  passage  to 
France  in  his  own  ships.  This,  from  obvious 
motives  of  honor  and  prudence,  Laudonniere  de- 
clined, upon  which  Hawkins  offered  to  lend  or 
sell  to  him  one  of   his  smaller  vessels. 

Laudonniere  hesitated,  and  hereupon  arose  a 
great  clamor.  A  mob  of  soldiers  and  artisans 
beset  his  chamber,  threatening  loudly  to  desert 
him,  and  take  passage  with  Hawkins,  unless  the 
offer  were  accepted.  The  commandant  accord- 
ingly resolved  to  buy  the  vessel.  The  generous 
slaver,  whose  reputed  avarice  nowhere  appears  in 
the  transaction,  desired  him  to  set  his  own  price  ; 
and,  in  place  of  money,  took  the  cannon  of  the 
fort,  with  other  articles  now  useless  to  their  late 
owners.  He  sent  them,  too,  a  gift  of  wine  and 
biscuit,  and  supplied  them  with  provisions  for  the 
voyage,  receiving  in  payment  Laudonniere's  note ; 
"  for  which,"  adds  the  latter,  "  untill  this  pres- 
ent I  am  indebted  to  him."  With  a  friendly 
leave-taking,  he  returned  to  his  ships  and  stood 
out  to  sea,  leaving  golden  opinions  among  the 
grateful  inmates  of  Fort  Caroline. 


:565.j  ARRIVAL   OF   RIBAUT.  93 

Before  the  English  top-sails  had  sunk  beneath 
the  horizon,  the  colonists  bestirred  themselves  to 
depart.  In  a  few  days  their  preparations  were 
made.  They  waited  only  for  a  fair  wind.  It 
was  long  in  coming,  and  meanwhile  their  troubled 
fortunes  assumed  a  new  phase. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  August,  the  two  cap- 
tains Vasseur  and  Verdier  came  in  with  tidings 
of  an  approaching  squadron.  Again  the  fort  was 
wild  with  excitement.  Friends  or  foes,  French  or 
Spaniards,  succor  or  death  ;  —  betwixt  these  were 
their  hopes  and  fears  divided.  On  the  following 
morning,  they  saw  seven  barges  rowing  up  the 
river,  bristling  with  weapons  and  crowded  with 
men  in  armor.  The  sentries  on  the  bluff  chal- 
lenged, and  received  no  answer.  One  of  them 
fired  at  the  advancing  boats,  and  still  there  was 
no  response.  Laudonniere  was  almost  defenceless. 
He  had  given  his  heavier  cannon'^to  Hawkins,  and 
only  two  field-pieces  were  left.  They  were  lev- 
elled at  the  foremost  boats,  and  the  word  to  fire 
was  about  to  be  given,  when  a  voice  from  among 
the  strangers  called  out  that  they  were  French, 
commanded  by  Jean  Ribaut. 

At  the  eleventh  hour,  the  long  looked  for  suc- 
cors were  come.  Ribaut  had  been  commissioned 
to  sail  with  seven  ships  for  Florida.  A  dis- 
orderly concourse  of  disbanded  soldiers,  mixed 
with  artisans  and  their  families,  and  young  no- 
bles weary  of  a  two  years'  peace,  were  mustered 
at  the  port  of  Dieppe,  and  embarked,  to  the 
number    of    three    hundred    men,    bearing    with 


94  FAMINE. —WAR— SUCCOPv.  [1565. 

them  all  things  thought  necessary  to  a  prosperous 
colony. 

No  longer  in  dread  of  the  Spaniards,  the  colo- 
nists saluted  the  new-comers  with  the  cannon  by 
which  a  moment  before  they  had  hoped  to  blow 
them  out  of  the  water.  Laudonniere  issued  from 
his  stronghold  to  welcome  them,  and  regaled  them 
with  what  cheer  he  could.  Ribaut  was  present, 
conspicuous  by  his  long  beard,  an  astonishment 
to  the  Indians  ;  and  here,  too,  were  officers,  old 
friends  of  Laudonniere.  Why,  then,  had  they 
ajoproached  in  the  attitude  of  enemies  ?  The  mys- 
tery was  soon  explained  ;  for  they  expressed  to 
the  commandant  their  pleasure  at  finding  that 
the  charges  made  against  him  had  proved  false. 
He  begged  to  know  more ;  on  which  Ribaut,  tak- 
ing him  aside,  told  him  that  the  returning  ships 
had  brought  home  letters  filled  with  accusations 
of  arrogance,  t}T»anny,  cruelty,  and  a  purpose  of 
establishing  an  independent  command,  —  accusa- 
tions which  he  now  saw  to  be  unfounded,  but 
which  had  been  the  occasion  of  his  unusual  and 
startling  precaution.  He  gave  him,  too,  a  letter 
from  Admiral  Colign3\  In  brief  but  courteous 
terms,  it  required  him  to  resign  his  command, 
and  requested  his  return  to  France  to  clear  his 
name  from  the  imputations  cast  upon  it.^  Ribaut 
warmly  urged  him  to  remain  ;  but  Laudonniere 
declined  his  friendly  proposals. 

Worn  in  body  and  mind,  mortified  and  wounded, 
he  soon  fell  ill  again.     A  peasant  woman  attended 

I  See  the  letter  in  Basanier,  102. 


/ 
15C5]  ARRIVAL   OF  THE   SPANIARDS.  95 

him,  who  was  brought  over,  he  says,  to  iinrse 
the  sick  and  take  charge  of  the  poultry,  and  of 
whom  Le  Moyne  also  speaks  as  a  servant,  but 
A\^ho  had  been  made  the  occasion  of  additional 
charges  against  him,  most  offensive  to  the  aus- 
tere Admiral. 

Stores  were  landed,  tents  were  pitched,  women 
and  children  were  sent  on  shore,  feathered  In- 
dians mingled  in  the  throng,  and  the  borders 
of  the  River  of  May  swarmed  with  busy  life. 
"  But,  lo,  how  oftentimes  misfortune  doth  search 
and  pursue  us,  even  then  when  we  thinke  to 
be  at  rest !  "  exclaims  the  unhappy  Laudonniere. 
Amidst  the  light  and  cheer  of  renovated  hope, 
a  cloud  of  blackest  omen  was  gathering  in  the 
east. 

At  half-past  eleven  on  the  night  of  Tuesday, 
the  fourth  of  September,  the  crew  of  Ribaut's 
flag-ship,  anchored  on  the  still  sea  outside  the  bar, 
saw  a  huge  hulk,  grim  with  the  throats  of  can- 
non, drifting  towards  them  through  the  gloom  ; 
and  from  its  stern  rolled  on  the  sluggish  air  the 
portentous  banner  of   Spain. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1565. 

MENENDEZ. 

Spain.  —  Pedro    Menendez    de    Aviles.  —  His    Boyhood.  —  His 
Early  Career.  —  His  Petition  to  the  King.  —  Commissioned 

TO  CONQUER    FLORIDA.  HiS    PoWERS. HiS    DESIGNS. A    NeW 

Crusade.  —  Sailing  of  the  Spanish  Fleet.  —  A  Storm.  — Porto 
Rico.  —  Energy  of  Menendez.  —  He  reaches  Florida.  —  At- 
tacks Ribaut's  Ships. —  Founds  St.  Augustine.  —  Alarm  of 
the  French.  —  Bold  Decision  of  Ribaut.  —  Defenceless 
Condition  of  Fort  Caroline. — Ribaut  thwarted.  —  Tempest, 
—  Menendez  marches  on  the  French  Fort.  —  His  Desperate 
Position.  —  The  Fort  taken. — The  Massacre.  —  The  Fugi- 
tives. 

The  monk,  the  inquisitor,  and  the  Jesuit  were 
lords  of  Spain,  —  sovereigns  of  her  sovereign,  for 
they  had  formed  the  dark  and  narrow  mind  of 
that  tyrannical  recluse.  They  had  formed  the 
minds  of  her  people,  quenched  in  blood  every 
spark  of  rising  heresy,  and  given  over  a  noble 
nation  to  a  bigotry  blind  and  inexorable  as  the 
doom  of  fate.  Linked  with  pride,  ambition,  ava- 
rice, every  passion  of  a  rich,  strong  nature,  potent 
for  good  and  ill,  it  made  the  Spaniard  of  that  day 
a  scourge  as  dire  as  ever  fell  on  man. 

Day  was  breaking  on  the  world.  Light,  hope, 
and  freedom  pierced  with  vitalizing  ray  the  clouds 
and  the  miasma  that  hung  so  thick  over  the  pros- 
trate Middle  Age,  once  noble  and  mighty,  now  a 
foul   image  of  decay   and   death.     Kindled   with 


1565.]  SPAIN.  97 

new  life,  the  nations  gave  birth  to  a  progeny  of 
heroes,  and  the  stormy  glories  of  the  sixteenth 
century  rose  on  awakened  Europe.  But  Spain 
was  the  citadel  of  darkness,  —  a  monastic  cell,  an 
inquisitorial  dungeon,  where  no  ray  could  pierce. 
She  was  the  bulwark  of  the  Church,  against  whose 
adamantine  wall  the  waves  of  innovation  beat  in 
vain.^  In  every  country  of  Europe  the  party  of 
freedom  and  reform  was  the  national  party,  the 
party  of  reaction  and  absolutism  was  the  Spanish 
party,  leaning  on  Spain,  looking  to  her  for  help. 
Above  all,  it  was  so  in  France ;  and,  while  within 
her  bounds  there  was  for  a  time  some  semblance 
of  peace,  the  national  and  religious  rage  burst 
forth  on  a  wilder  theatre.  Thither  it  is  for  us  to 
follow  it,  where,  on  the  shores  of  Florida,  the 
Spaniard  and  the  Frenchman,  the  bigot,  and  the 
Huguenot,  met  in  the  grapple  of  death. 

In  a  corridor  of  his  palace,  Philip  the  Second 
was  met  by  a  man  who  had  long  stood  waiting  his 
approach,  and  who  with  proud  reverence  placed  a 
petition  in  the  hand  of  the  pale  and  sombre  King. 
The  petitioner  was  Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  distinguished  officers  of 
the  Spanish  marine.  He  was  born  of  an  ancient 
Asturian  family.  His  boyhood  had  been  wayward, 
ungovernable,    and    fierce.     He    ran   off   at  eight 

1  "  Better  a  ruined  kingdom,  true  to  itself  and  its  king,  than  one  left 
unharmed  to  the  profit  of  the  Devil  and  the  heretics."  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  cited  by  Prescott,  Philip  II.,  Book  III.  c.  2,  note  36. 

"  A  prince  can  do  nothing  more  shameful,  or  more  hurtful  to  himself, 
than  to  permit  his  people  to  live  according  to  their  conscience."  The 
Duke  of  Alva,  in  Davila,  Lib.  III.  p.  341. 

7 


98  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

years  of  age,  and  when,  after  a  search  of  six 
months,  he  was  found  and  brought  back,  he  ran 
off  again.  This  time  he  was  more  successful, 
escaping  on  board  a  fleet  bound  against  the  Bar- 
bary  corsairs,  where  his  precocious  appetite  for 
blood  and  blows  had  reasonable  contentment.  A 
few  years  later,  he  found  means  to  build  a  small 
vessel,  in  which  he  cruised  against  the  corsairs 
and  the  French,  and,  though  still  hardly  more 
than  a  boy,  displayed  a  singular  address  and  dar- 
ing. The  wonders  of  the  New  World  now  seized 
his  imagination.  He  made  a  voyage  thither,  and 
the  ships  under  his  charge  came  back  freighted 
with  wealth.  The  war  with  France  was  then  at 
its  height.  As  captain-general  of  the  fleet,  he 
was  sent  with  troops  to  Flanders ;  and  to  their 
prompt  arrival  was  due,  it  is  said,  the  victory  of 
St.  Quentin.  Two  years  later,  he  commanded  the 
luckless  armada  which  bore  back  Philip  to  his 
native  shore.  On  the  way,  the  King  narrowly 
escaped  drowning  in  a  storm  off  the  port  of 
Laredo.  This  mischance,  or  his  own  violence  and 
insubordination,  wrought  to  the  prejudice  of  Me- 
nendez.  He  complained  that  his  services  were  ill 
repaid.  Philip  lent  him  a  favoring  ear,  and  de- 
spatched him  to  the  Indies  as  general  of  the  fleet 
and  army.  Here  he  found  means  to  amass  vast 
riches;  and,  in  1561,  on  his  return  to  Spain, 
charges  were  brought  against  him  of  a  nature 
which  his  too  friendly  biographer  does  not  explain. 
The  Council  of  the  Indies  arrested  him.  He  was 
imprisoned   and  sentenced  to  a  heavy  fine ;    but, 


1565.]  HIS  PETITION  TO  THE   KING.  99 

gaining  his  release,  hastened  to  court  to  throw 
himself  on  the  royal  clemency.^  His  petition 
was  most  graciously  received.  Philip  restored 
his  command,  but  remitted  only  half  his  fine,  a 
strong  presumption  of  his  guilt. 

Menendez  kissed  the  royal  hand  ;  he  had  another 
petition  in  reserve.  His  son  had  been  wrecked 
near  the  Bermudas,  and  he  would  fain  go  thither 
to  find  tidings  of  his  fate.  The  pious  King  bade 
him  trust  in  God,  and  promised  that  he  should  be 
despatched  without  delay  to  the  Bermudas  and  to 
Florida,  with  a  commission  to  make  an  exact  sur- 
vey of  the  neighboring  seas  for  the  profit  of  future 
voyagers ;  but  Menendez  was  not  content  with 
such  an  errand.  He  knew,  he  ,  said,  nothing  of 
greater  moment  to  his  Majesty  than  the  conquest 
and  settlement  of  Florida.  The  climate  was 
healthful,  the  soil  fertile ;  and,  worldly  advan- 
tages aside,  it  was  peopled  by  a  race  sunk  in  the 
thickest  shades  of  infidelity.  "  Such  grief,"  he 
pursued,  "  seizes  me,  when  T  behold  this  multitude 
of  wretched  Indians,  that  I  should  choose  the 
conquest  and  settling  of  Florida  above  all  com- 
mands, offices,  and  dignities  which  your  Majesty 
might  bestow."  ^  Those  who  take  this  for  hypoc- 
risy do  not  know  the  Spaniard  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

The  King  was  edified  by  his  zeal.  An  enter- 
prise of  such  spiritual  and  temporal  promise  was 
not  to  be  slighted,  and  Menendez  was  empowered 

^  Barcia,  (Cardenas  y  Cano,)  Ensajjo  Cronologico,  57-64. 
2  Ibid.,  65. 


100  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

to  conquer  and  convert  Florida  at  his  own  cost. 
The  conquest  was  to  be  effected  within  three 
years.  Menendez  was  to  take  with  him  five  hun- 
dred men,  and  supply  them  with  five  hundred 
slaves,  besides  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs. 
Villages  were  to  be  built,  with  forts  to  defend 
them ;  and  sixteen  ecclesiastics,  of  whom  four 
should  be  Jesuits,  were  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
Floridan  church.  The  King,  on  his  part,  granted 
Menendez  free  trade  with  Hispaniola,  Porto  Rico, 
Cuba,  and  Spain,  the  office  of  Adelantado  of  Flor- 
ida for  life,  with  the  right  of  naming  his  succes- 
sor, and  large  emoluments  to  be  drawn  from  the 
expected  conquest.^ 

The  compact  struck,  Menendez  hastened  to  his 
native  Asturias  to  raise  money  among  his  rela- 
tives. Scarcely  was  he  gone,  when  tidings  reached 
Madrid  that  Florida  was  already  occupied  by  a  col- 
ony of  French  Protestants,  and  that  a  reinforce- 
ment, under  Ribaut,  was  on  the  point  of  sailing 
thither.  A  French  historian  of  high  authority 
declares  that  these  advices  came  from  the  Catholic 
party  at  the  French  court,  in  whom  every  instinct 
of  patriotism  was  lost  in  their  hatred  of  Coligny 
and  the  Huguenots.  Of  this  there  can  be  little 
doubt,  though  information  also  came  about  this 
time  from  the  buccaneer  Frenchmen  captured  in 
the  West  Indies. 

Foreigners  had  invaded  the  territory  of  Spain. 

^  The  above  is  from  Barcia,  as  the  original  compact  has  not  been 
found.  For  the  patent  conferring  the  title  of  Adelantado,  see  Coleccion  do 
Varios  Documentos,  I.  13. 


1565.]  ATTITUDE   OF  FRANCE.  101 

The  trespassers,  too,  were  heretics,  foes  of  God, 
and  liegemen  of  the  Devil.  Their  doom  was  fixed. 
But  how  would  France  endure  an  assault,  in  time 
of  peace,  on  subjects  who  had  gone  forth  on  an  en- 
terprise sanctioned  by  the  Crown,  and  undertaken 
in  its  name  and  under  its  commission  ? 

The  throne  of  France,  in  which  the  corruption  of 
the  nation  seemed  gathered  to  a  head,  was  trem- 
bling between  the  two  parties  of  the  Catholics 
and  the  Huguenots,  whose  chiefs  aimed  at  royalty. 
Flattering  both,  caressing  both,  playing  one  against 
the  other,  and  betraying  both,  Catherine  de  Medi- 
cis,  by  a  thousand  crafty  arts  and  expedients  of 
the  moment,  sought  to  retain  the  crown  on  the 
head  of  her  weak  and  vicious  son.  Of  late  her 
crooked  policy  had  led  her  towards  the  Catholic 
party,  in  other  words  the  party  of  Spain ;  and 
she  had  already  given  ear  to  the  savage  Duke  of 
Alva,  urging  her  to  the  course  w^hich,  seven  years 
later,  led  to  the  carnage  of  St.  Bartholomew.  In 
short,  the  Spanish  policy  was  in  the  ascendant, 
and  no  thought  of  the  national  interest  or  honor 
could  restrain  that  basest  of  courts  from  aban- 
doning by  hundreds  to  the  national  enemy  those 
whom  it  was  itself  meditating  to  immolate  by 
thousands.^  It  might  protest  for  form's  sake,  or 
to  quiet  public  clamor ;  but  Philip  of  Spain  well 
knew  that  it  would  end  in  patient  submission. 


1  The  Freuch  Jesuit  Charlevoix  says :  "  On  avoit  donne  h,  cette  ex- 
pedition tout  I'air  d'une  guerre  sainte,  entreprise  contre  les  Here'tiques  de 
concert  avec  le  Roy  de  Frauce."  Nor  does  Charlevoix  seem  to  doubt  this 
complicity  of  Charles  the  Ninth  in  an  attack  on  his  own  subjects. 


102  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

Menendez  was  summoned  back  in  haste  to  the 
Spanish  court.  His  force  must  be  strengthened. 
Three  hundred  and  ninety-four  men  were  added 
at  the  royal  charge,  and  a  corresponding  number 
of  transport  and  supply  ships.  It  was  a  holy  war, 
a  crusade,  and  as  such  was  preached  by  priest  and 
monk  along  the  western  coasts  of  Spain.  All  the 
Biscayan  ports  flamed  with  zeal,  and  adventurers 
crowded  to  enroll  themselves ;  since  to  plunder 
heretics  is  good  for  the  soul  as  well  as  the  purse, 
and  broil  and  massacre  have  double  attraction 
when  promoted  into  a  means  of  salvation.  It 
was  a  fervor,  deep  and  hot,  but  not  of  celestial 
kindling  ;  nor  yet  that  buoyant  and  inspiring  zeal 
which,  when  the  Middle  Age  was  in  its  youth  and 
prime,  glowed  in  the  souls  of  Tancred,  Godfrey, 
and  St.  Louis,  and  which,  when  its  day  was  long 
since  past,  could  still  find  its  home  in  the  great 
heart  of  Columbus.  A  darker  spirit  urged  the 
new  crusade,  —  born  not  of  hope,  but  of  fear,  slav- 
ish in  its  nature,  the  creature  and  the  tool  of  des- 
potism ;  for  the  typical  Spaniard  of  the  sixteenth 
century  was  not  in  strictness  a  fanatic,  he  was 
bigotry  incarnate. 

Heresy  was  a  plague-spot,  an  ulcer  to  be  erad- 
icated with  fire  and  the  knife,  and  this  foul 
abomination  was  infecting  the  shores  which  the 
Vicegerent  of  Christ  had  given  to  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  which  the  Most  Catholic  King  had 
given  to  the  Adelantado.  Thus  would  countless 
heathen  tribes  be  doomed  to  an  eternity  of  flame, 
and  the  Prince  of  Darkness  hold  his  ancient  sway 


1565.]  HIS   PROJECTS.  103 

unbroken ;  and  for  the  Adelantado  himself,  the 
vast  outlays,  the  vast  debts  of  his  bold  Floridan 
venture  would  be  all  in  vain,  and  his  fortunes  be 
wrecked  past  redemption  through  these  tools  of 
Satan.  As  a  Catholic,  as  a  Spaniard,  and  as  an 
adventurer,  his  course  was  clear. 

The  work  assigned  him  was  prodigious.  He 
was  invested  with  power  almost  absolute,  not 
merel^T^  over  the  peninsula  which  now  retains  the 
name  of  Florida,  but  over  all  North  America,  from 
Labrador  to  Mexico  ;  for  this  was  the  Florida  of 
the  old  Spanish  geographers,  and  the  Florida  des- 
ignated in  the  commission  of  Menendez.  It  was  a 
continent  which  he  was  to  conquer  and  occupy  out 
of  his  own  purse.  The  impoverished  King  con- 
tracted with  his  daring  and  ambitious  subject  to 
win  and  hold  for  him  the  territory  of  the  future 
United  States  and  British  Provinces.  His  plan, 
as  afterwards  exposed  at  length  in  his  letters  to 
Philip  the  Second,  was,  first,  to  plant  a  garrison 
at  Port  Royal,  and  next  to  fortify  strongly  on 
Chesapeake  Bay,  called  by  him  St.  Mary's.  He 
believed  that  adjoining  this  bay  was  an  arm  of 
the  sea,  running  northward  and  eastward,  and 
communicating  with  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
thus  making  New  England,  with  adjacent  dis- 
tricts, an  island.  His  proposed  fort  on  the  Chesa- 
peake, securing  access,  by  this  imaginary  passage, 
to  the  seas  of  Newfoundland,  would  enable  the 
Spaniards  to  command  the  fisheries,  on  which  both 
the  French  and  the  English  had  long  encroached, 
to  the  great  prejudice  of  Spanish  rights.     Doubt- 


104  MENENDEZ.  [15G5. 

less,  too,  these  inland  waters  gave  access  to  the 
South  Sea,  and  their  occupation  was  necessary  to 
prevent  the  French  from  penetrating  thither ;  for 
that  ambitious  people,  since  the  time  of  Cartier, 
had  never  abandoned  their  schemes  of  seizing  this 
portion  of  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Spain. 
Five  hundred  soldiers  and  one  hundred  sailors 
must,  he  urges,  take  possession,  without  delay,  of 
Port  Royal  and  the  Chesapeake.^ 

Preparation  for  his  enterprise  was  pushed  with 
furious  energy.  His  whole  force,  when  the  several 
squadrons  were  united,  amounted  to  two  thousand 
six  hundred  and  forty-six  persons,  in  thirty-four 
vessels,  one  of  which,  the  San  Pelayo,  bearing  Me- 
nendez  himself,  was  of  nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  tons'  burden,  and  is  described  as  one  of  the 
finest  ships  afloat.^  There  were  twelve  Francis- 
cans and  eight  Jesuits,  besides  other  ecclesiastics ; 
and  many  knights  of  Galicia,  Biscay,  and  the 
Asturias  took  p^rt  in  the  expedition.  With  a 
slight  exception,  the  whole  was  at  the  Adelan- 
tado's  charge.     Within  the  first  fourteen  months, 


1  Cartas  escritas  al  Ret/  par  el  General  Pero  Menendez  de  Avil^s. 
These  are  the  official  despatches  of  Menendez,  of  which  the  originals  are 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  Seville.  They  are  very  voluminous  and 
minute  in  detail.  Copies  of  them  were  obtained  by  the  aid  of  Bucking- 
ham Smith,  Esq.,  to  whom  the  writer  is  also  indebted  for  various  other 
documents  from  the  same  source,  throwing  new  light  on  the  events 
described.  Menendez  calls  Port  Royal  "  St.  Elena,"  a  name  afterwards 
applied  to  the  sound  which  still  retains  it.  Compare  Historical  Magazine, 
IV.  320. 

2  This  was  not  so  remarkable  as  it  may  appear.  Charnock,  History  oj 
Marijie  Architecture,  gives  the  tonnage  of  the  ships  of  the  Invincible  Ar- 
mada. The  flag-ship  of  the  Andalusian  squadron  was  of  fifteen  hundred 
and  fiftv  tons  ;  several  were  of  about  twelve  hundred. 


1565.]  SAILS  FROM  CADIZ.  105 

according  to  his  admirer,  Barcia,  the  adventure 
cost  him  a  million  ducats.^ 

Before  the  close  of  the  year,  Sancho  de  Arcini- 
ega  was  commissioned  to  join  Menendez  with  an 
additional  force  of  fifteen  hundred  men.^ 

Red-hot  with  a  determined  purpose,  the  Ade- 
lantado  would  brook  no  delay.  To  him,  says  the 
chronicler,  every  day  seemed  a  year.  He  was 
eager  to  anticipate  Ribaut,  of  whose  designs  and 
whose  force  he  seems  to  have  been  informed  to 
the  minutest  particular,  but  whom  he  hoped  to 
thwart  and  ruin  by  gaining  Fort  Caroline  before 
him.  With  eleven  ships,  therefore,  he  sailed  from 
Cadiz,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  1565,  leaving 
the  smaller  vessels  of  his  fleet  to  follow  with  what 
speed  they  might.  He  touched  first  at  the  Cana- 
ries, and  on  the  eighth  of  July  left  them,  steering 
for  Dominica.  A  minute  account  of  the  voyage 
has  come  down  to  us,  written  by  Mendoza,  chap- 
lain of  the  expedition,  a  somewhat  dull  and  illiter- 
ate person,  who  busily  jots  down  the  incidents  of 

1  Barcia,  69.  The  following  passage  in  one  of  the  unpublished  letters 
of  Menendez  seems  to  indicate  that  the  above  is  exaggerated  :  "  Your 
Majesty  may  be  assured  by  me,  that,  had  I  a  milliou,  more  or  less,  I 
would  employ  and  spend  the  whole  in  this  undertaking,  it  being  so  greatly 
to  [the  glor}^  of]  God  our  Lord,  and  the  increase  of  our  Holy  Catholic 
Faith,  and  the  service  and  authority  of  your  Majesty ;  and  thus  I  have 
offered  to  our  Lord  whatever  He  shall  give  me  iu  this  world,  [and  what- 
ever] I  shall  possess,  gain,  or  acquire  shall  be  devoted  to  the  planting  of 
the  Gospel  iu  this  land,  and  the  enlightenment  of  the  natives  thereof,  and 
this  I  do  promise  to  your  Majesty."  This  letter  is  dated  11  September, 
1565. 

2  ^Irto  Je  1565.  Nomhramiento  de  Capitnn- General  de  la  Armada  des-' 
tinada  para  yr  a  la  Provincia  de  la  Florida  al  socorro  del  General. 
Pero  Menendez  de  Avile's,  hecho  por  Su  Magestad  al  Capitan  Sancho  de. 
Arciniega. 


106  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

each  passing  day,  and  is  constantly  betraying, 
with  a  certain  awkward  simplicity,  how  the  cares 
of  this  world  and  of  the  next  jostle  each  other 
in  his  thoughts. 

On  Friday,  the  twentieth  of  July,  a  storm  fell 
upon  them  with  appalling  fury.  The  pilots  lost 
their  wits,  and  the  sailors  gave  themselves  up  to 
their  terrors.  Throughout  the  night,  they  beset 
Mendoza  for  confession  and  absolution,  a  boon 
not  easily  granted,  for  the  seas  swept  the  crowded 
decks  with  cataracts  of  foam,  and  the  shriekings 
of  the  gale  in  the  rigging  overpowered  the  ex- 
hortations of  the  half-drowned  priest.  Cannon, 
cables,  spars,  water-casks,  were  thrown  overboard, 
and  the  chests  of  the  sailors  would  have  followed, 
had  not  the  latter,  in  spite  of  their  fright,  raised 
such  a  howl  of  remonstrance  that  the  order  was 
revoked.  At  length  day  dawned.  Plunging,  reel- 
ing, half  under  water,  quivering  with  the  shock 
of  the  seas,  whose  mountain  ridges  rolled  down 
upon  her  before  the  gale,  the 'ship  lay  in  deadly 
peril  from  Friday  till  Monday  noon.  Then  the 
storm  abated  ;  the  sun  broke  out ;  and  again  she 
held  her  course.^ 

They  reached  Dominica  on  Sunday,  the  fifth  of 
August.  The  chaplain  tells  us  how  he  went  on 
shore  to  refresh  himself ;  how,  while  his  Italian 
servant  washed  his  linen  at  a  brook,  he  strolled 
along  the  beach  and  picked  up  shells  ;    and  how 

1  Francisco  Lopez  de  Mendoza  Grajales,  Relacion  de  la  Jornada  de 
Pedro  Menendez,  printed  in  Cokccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos,  III.  441 
(Madrid,  1865).  There  is  a  French  translation  in  the  Floride  of  Ternaux- 
Conipaus.     Letter  of  Menendez  to  the  King,  13  August,  1565. 


1565.]  REACHES  PORTO  RICO.  107 

he  was  scared,  first,  by  a  prodigious  turtle,  and 
next  by  a  vision  of  the  cannibal  natives,  which 
caused  his  jorompt  retreat  to  the  boats. 

On  the  tenth,  they  anchored  in  the  harbor  of 
Porto  Rico,  where  they  found  two  ships  of  their 
squadron,  from  which  they  had  parted  in  the 
storm.  One  of  them  was  the  San  Pelayo,  with 
Menendez  on  board.  Mendoza  informs  us,  that 
in  the  evening  the  officers  came  on  board  the  ship 
to  which  he  was  attached,  when  he,  the  chaplain, 
regaled  them  with  sweetmeats,  and  that  Menen- 
dez invited  him  not  only  to  supper  that  night, 
but  to  dinner  the  next  day,  "  for  the  which  I 
thanked  him,  as  reason  was,"  says  the  gratified 
churchman. 

Here  thirty  men  deserted,  and  three  priests  also 
ran  off,  of  which  Mendoza  bitterly  complains,  as 
increasing  his  own  work.  The  motives  of  the 
clerical  truants  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  a 
worldly  temptation  to  which  the  chaplain  himself 
was  subjected.  "  I  was  offered  the  service  of  a 
chapel  where  I  should  have  got  a  peso  for  every 
mass  I  said,  the  whole  year  round ;  but  I  did  not 
accept  it,  for  fear  that  what  I  hear  said  of  the 
other  three  would  be  said  of  me.  Besides,  it  is 
not  a  place  where  one  can  hope  for  any  great 
advancement,  and  I  wished  to  try  whether,  in 
refusing  a  benefice  for  the  love  of  the  Lord,  He 
will  not  repay  me  with  some  other  stroke  of  for- 
tune before  the  end  of  the  voyage  ;  for  it  is  my 
aim  to  serve  God  and  His  blessed  Mother."  ^ 

^  Meudoza,  Relacion  de  la  Jornada  de  Pedro  Menendez. 


108  .  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

The  original  design  had  been  to  rendezvous  at 
Havana,  but  with  the  Adelantado  the  advantages 
of  despatch  outweighed  every  other  consideration. 
He  resolved  to  push  directly  for  Florida.  Five  of 
his  scattered  ships  had  by  this  time  rejoined  com- 
pany, comprising,  exclusive  of  officers,  a  force  of 
about  five  hundred  soldiers,  two  hundred  sailors, 
and  one  hundred  colonists.^  Bearing  northward, 
he  advanced  by  an  unknown  and  dangerous  course 
along  the  coast  of  Hayti  and  through  the  intri- 
cate passes  of  the  Bahamas.  On  the  night  of 
the  twenty-sixth,  the  San  Pelayo  struck  three 
times  on  the  shoals ;  "  but,"  says  the  chaplain, 
"  inasmuch  as  our  enterprise  was  undertaken  for 
the  sake  of  Christ  and  His  blessed  Mother,  two 
heavy  seas  struck  her  abaft,  and  set  her  afloat 
again." 

At  length  the  ships  lay  becalmed  in  the  Bahama 
Channel,  slumbering  on  the  glassy  sea,  torpid  with 
the  heats  of  a  West  Indian  August.  Menendez 
called  a  council  of  the  commanders.  There  was 
doubt  and  indecision.  Perhaps  Ribaut  had  al- 
ready reached  the  French  fort,  and  then  to  attack 
the  united  force  would  be  an  act  of  desperation. 
Far  better  to  await  their  lagging  comrades.  But 
the  Adelantado  was  of  another  mind  ;  and,  even 
had  his  enemy  arrived,  he  was  resolved  that  he 
should  have  no  time  to  fortify  himself. 

"  It  is  God's  will,"  he  said,  "  that  our  victory 
should  be  due,  not  to  our  numbers,  but  to  His  all- 
powerful  aid.     Therefore  has  He  stricken  us  with 

1  Letter  of  Menendez  to  the  King,  11  September,  1565. 


1565.]  EEACHES  FLORIDA.  109 

tempests,  and  scattered  our  ships."  ^  And  he  gave 
his  voice  for  instant  advance. 

There  was  much  dispute ;  even  the  chaplain 
remonstrated  ;  but  nothing  could  bend  the  iron 
will  of  Menendez.  Nor  was  a  sign  of  celestial 
approval  wanting.  At  nine  in  the  evening,  a 
great  meteor  burst  forth  in  mid-heaven,  and,  blaz- 
ing like  the  sun,  rolled  westward  towards  the 
coast  of  Florida.^  The  fainting  spirits  of  the  cru- 
saders were  revived.  Diligent  preparation  was 
begun.  Prayers  and  masses  were  said ;  and,  that 
the  temporal  arm  might  not  fail,  the  men  were 
daily  practised  on  deck  in  shooting  at  marks,  in 
order,  says  the  chronicle,  that  the  recruits  might 
learn  not  to  be  afraid  of  their  guns. 

The  dead  calm  continued.  "  We  were  all  very 
tired,"  says  the  chaplain,  "  and  I  above  all,  with 
praying  to  God  for  a  fair  wind.  To-day,  at  about 
two  in  the  afternoon.  He  took  pity  on  us,  and  sent 
us  a  breeze."  ^  Before  night  they  saw  land,  — the 
faint  line  of  forest,  traced  along  the  watery  hori- 
zon, that  marked  the  coast  of  Florida.  But  where, 
in  all  this  vast  monotony,  was  the  lurking-place 
of  the  French  ?  Menendez  anchored,  and  sent  a 
captain  with  twenty  men  ashore,  who  presently 
found  a  band  of  Indians,  and  gained  from  them 
the  needed  information.  He  stood  northward, 
till,  on  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday,  the  fourth  of 
September,  he  descried  four  ships   anchored  near 

1  Barcia,  70. 

2  Mendoza,  Eelacion :  "  Nos  mostrd  Nuestro  Senor  un  misterio  en  el 
cielo,"  etc. 

3  Mendoza,  Eelacion. 


110  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

the  mouth  of  a  river.     It  was  the  river  St.  John's, 


and  the  ships  were  four  of  Ribaut's  squadron. 
The  prey  was  in  sight.  The  Spaniards  prepared 
for  battle,  and  bore  down  upon  the  Lutherans ; 
for,  with  them,  all  Protestants  alike  were  branded 
with  the  name  of  the  arch-heretic.  Slowly,  before 
the  faint  breeze,  the  ships  glided  on  their  way ; 
but  while,  excited  and  impatient,  the  fierce  crews 
watched  the  decreasing  space,  and  when  they  were 
still  three  leagues  from  their  prize,  the  air  ceased 
to  stir,  the  sails  flapped  against  the  mast,  a  black 
cloud  with  thunder  rose  above  the  coast,  and  the 
warm  rain  of  the  South  descended  on  the  breath- 
less sea.  It  was  dark  before  the  wind  stirred 
again  and  the  ships  resumed  their  course.  At 
half-past  eleven*  they  reached  the  French.  The 
San  Pelayo  slowly  moved  to  windward  of  Ribaut's 
flag-ship,  the  Trinity,  and  anchored  very  near  her. 
The  other  ships  took  similar  stations.  While  these 
preparations  were  making,  a  work  of  two  hours, 
the  men  labored  in  silence,  and  the  French,  throng- 
ing their  gangways,  looked  on  in  equal  silence. 
"Never,  since  I  came  into  the  world,"  writes  the 
chaplain,  "  did  I  know  such  a  stillness." 

It  was  broken  at  length  by  a  trumpet  from 
the  deck  of  the  San  Pelayo.  A  French  trumpet 
answered.  Then  Menendez,  "with  much  cour- 
tesy," says  his  Spanish  eulogist,  inquired,  "  Gen- 
tlemen, whence  does  this  fleet  come  ? " 

"  From  France,"  was  the  reply. 

"  What  are  you  doing  here  ?  "  pursued  the  Ade- 
lantado. 


1565.]  ENCOUNTERS   THE   FRENCH.  Ill 

"  Bringing  soldiers  and  supplies  for  a  fort  which 
the  King  of  France  has  in  this  country,  and  for 
many  others  which  he  soon  will  have." 
•  "  Are  you  Catholics  or  Lutherans  ?  " 

Many  voices  cried  out  together,  "  Lutherans, 
of  the  new  religion."  Then,  in  their  turn,  they 
demanded  who  Menendez  was,  and  whence  he 
came. 

He  answered  :  "  I  am  Pedro  Menendez,  General 
of  the  fleet  of  the  King  of  Spain,  Don  Philip  the 
Second,  who  have  come  to  this  country  to  hang 
and  behead  all  Lutherans  whom  I  shall  find  by 
land  or  sea,  according  to  instructions  from  my 
King,  so  precise  that  I  have  power  to  pardon 
none ;  and  these  commands  I  shall  fulfil,  as  you 
will  see.  At  daybreak  I  shall  board  your  ships, 
and  if  I  find  there  any  Catholic,  he  shall  be  well 
treated  ;  but  every  heretic  shall  die."  ^ 

The  French  with  one  voice  raised  a  cry  of  wrath 
and  defiance. 


•  "  Pedro  Menendez  os  lo  pregunta,  General  de  esta  Armada  del  Rel 
de  Espana  Don  Felipe  Segundo,  qui  vieue  a  esta  Tierra  a  ahorcar,  y 
degollar  todos  los  Luteranos,  que  hallare  en  ella,  y  en  el  Mar,  segun  la 
Instruccion,  que  trae  de  mi  Rei,  que  es  tan  precisa,  que  me  priva  de 
la  facultad  de  perdonarlos,  y  la  cumplire  en  todo,  como  lo  vereis  luego 
que  amanezca,  que  entrare  en  vuestros  Navies,  y  si  hallare  algun  Ca- 
tolico,  le  hare  buen  tratamiento ;  pero  el  que  fuere  Herege,  morira." 
Barcia,  75. 

The  following  is  the  version,  literally  given,  of  Menendez  himself  :  — 
"I  answered  them  :  'Pedro  Menendez,  who  was  going  by  your  Majes- 
ty's command  to  this  coast  and  country  in  order  to  burn  and  hang  the 
Lutheran  French  who  should  be  found  there,  and  that  in  the  moruing  I 
would  board  their  ships  to  find  out  whether  any  of  them  belonged  to  that 
people,  because,  in  case  they  did,  I  could  not  do  otherwise  than  execute 
upon  them  that  justice  which  your  Majesty  had  ordained.'"  Letter  of 
Menendez  to  the  King,  11  September,  1565. 


112  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

"  If  you  are  a  brave  man,  don't  wait  till  day. 
Come  on  now,  and  see  what  you  will  get ! " 

And  they  assailed  the  Adelantado  with  a  shower 
of  scoffs  and  insults. 

Menendez  broke  into  a  rage,  and  gave  the  order 
to  board.  Tlie  men  slipped  the  cables,  and  the 
sullen  black  hulk  of  the  San  Pelayo  drifted  down 
upon  the  Trinity.  The  French  did  not  make  good 
their  defiance.  Indeed,  they  were  incapable  of 
resistance,  Ribaut  with  his  soldiers  being  ashore 
at  Fort  Caroline.  They  cut  their  cables,  left  their 
anchors,  made  sail,  and  fled.  The  Spaniards  fired, 
the  French  replied.  The  other  Spanish  ships  had 
imitated  the  movement  of  the  San  Pelayo  ;  "•  but," 
writes  the  chaplain,  Mendoza,  "  these  devils  are 
such  adroit  sailors,  and  manoeuvred  so  well,  that 
we  did  not  catch  one  of  them."  ^  Pursuers  and 
pursued  ran  out  to  sea,  firing  useless  volleys  at 
each  other. 

In  the  morning  Menendez  gave  over  the  chase, 
turned,  and,  with  the  San  Pelayo  alone,  ran  back 

1  Mendoza,  Relaa'on. 

The  above  account  is  that  of  Barcia,  the  admirer  and  advocate  of  Me- 
nendez. A  few  points  have  been  added  from  Mendoza,  as  indicated  by  the 
citations.  One  statement  of  Barcia  is  omitted,  because  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  it  is  false.  He  says,  that,  when  the  Spanish  fleet  approached, 
the  French  opened  a  heavy  fire  on  them.  Neither  the  fanatical  JMeudoza, 
who  was  present,  nor  the  French  writers,  Laudonnicre,  Le  Moyne,  and 
Challeux,  mention  this  circumstance,  which,  besides,  can  scarcely  be 
reconciled  with  the  subsequent  conduct  of  either  party.  Mendoza  differs 
from  Barcia  also  in  respect  to  the  time  of  the  attack,  which  he  places 
"  at  two  hours  after  sunset."  In  other  points  his  story  tallies  as  nearly 
as  could  be  expected  with  that  of  Barcia.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
Challeux  and  Laudonniere.  The  latter  says,  that  the  Spaniards,  before 
attacking,  asked  after  the  French  oflScers  by  name,  whence  he  infers  that 
they  had  received  very  minute  information  from  France. 


1565. 


FOUNDS  ST.  AUGUSTINE.  113 


for  the  St.  John's.  But  here  a  welcome  was  pre- 
pared for  hhn.  He  saw  bands  of  armed  men 
drawn  up  on  the  beach,  and  the  smaller  vessels 
of  Ribaut's  squadron,  which  had  crossed  the  bar 
several  days  before,  anchored  behmd  it  to  oppose 
his  landing.  He  would  not  venture  an  attack, 
but,  steering  southward,  sailed  along  the  coast  till 
he  came  to  an  inlet  which  he  named  San  Agustin, 
the  same  which  Laudonniere  had  named  the  River 
of  Dolphins. 

Here  he  found  three  of  his  ships  already  de- 
barking their  troops,  guns,  and  stores.  Two  offi- 
cers, Patino  and  Vicente,  had  taken  possession  of 
the  dwelling  of  the  Indian  chief  Seloy,  a  huge 
barn-like  structure,  strongly  framed  of  entire 
trunks  of  trees,  and  thatched  with  palmetto 
leaves.'  Around  it  they  were  tliBowing  up  in- 
trenchments  of  fascines  and  sand,  and  gangs  of 
negroes  were  toiling  at  the  work.  Such  was  the 
birth  of  St.  Augustine,  the  oldest  town  of  the 
United  States. 

On  the  eighth,  Menendez  took  formal  posses- 
sion of  his  domain.  Cannon  were  fired,  trumpets 
sounded,  and  banners  displayed,  as  he  landed  in 
state  at  the  head  of  his  officers  and  nobles.  Men- 
doza,  crucifix  in  hand,  came  to  meet  him,  chant- 
ing Te  Deum  laudamus,  while  the  Adelantado  and 
all  his  company,  kneeling,  kissed  the  crucifix,  and 
the  assembled  Indians  gazed  in  silent  wonder.^ 

1  Compare  Hawkins,  Second  Voyage.    He  visited  this  or  some  similar 
structure,  and  his  Journalist  minutely  describes  it. 
'•^  Meudoza,  Relacion. 

8 


114  MENENDEZ.  [1565, 

Meanwhile  the  tenants  of  Fort  Carolme  were 
not  idle.  Two  or  three  soldiers,  strolling  along 
the  beach  in  the  afternoon,  had  first  seen  the  Span- 
ish ships,  and  hastily  summoned  Riljaut.  He  came 
down  to  the  month  of  the  river,  followed  by  an 
anxious  and  excited  crowd ;  but,  as  they  strained 
their  eyes  through  the  darkness,  they  could  see 
nothing  but  the  flashes  of  the  distant  guns.  At 
length  the  returning  light  showed,  far  out  at  sea, 
the  Adelantado  in  hot  chase  of  their  flying  com- 
rades. Pursuers  and  pursued  were  soon  out  of 
sight.  The  drums  beat  to  arms.  After  many 
hours  of  suspense,  the  San  Pelayo  reappeared, 
hovering  about  the  mouth  of  the  river,  then 
bearing  away  towards  the  south.  More  anxious 
hours  ensued,  when  three  other  sail  came  in  sight, 
and  they  recognized  three  of  their  own  returning 
ships.  Communication  was  opened,  a  boat's  crew 
landed,  and  they  learned  from  Cosette,  one  of  the 
French  captains,  that,  confiding  in  the  speed  of 
his  ship,  he  had  followed  the  Spaniards  to  St.  Au- 
gustine, reconnoitred  their  position,  and  seen  them 
land  their  negroes  and  intrench  themselves.^ 

Laudonniere  lay  sick  in  bed  in  his  chamber  at 
Fort  Caroline  when  Ribaut  entered,  and  with  him 
La  Grange,  Sainte  Marie,  Ottigny.  Yonville,  and 
other  officers.  At  the  bedside  of  the  displaced 
commandant,  they  held  their  council  of  war. 
Three  plans  were  proposed :  first,  to  remain  where 
they  were  and  fortify  themselves ;  next,  to  push 

1  Laudonniere  in  Basanier,  105.  Le  Moyne  differs  in  a  few  trifling 
details. 


1565.]  DECISION  OF   RIBAUT.  115 

overland  for  St.  Augustine  and  attack  the  invad- 
ers in  their  intrenchments  ;  and,  finally,  to  embark 
and  assail  them  by  sea.  The  first  plan  would 
leave  their  ships  a  prey  to  the  Spaniards ;  and  so, 
too,  in  all  likelihood,  would  the  second,  besides 
the  uncertainties  of  an  overland  march  through 
an  unknown  wilderness.  By  sea,  the  distance 
was  short  and  the  route  explored.  By  a  sudden 
blow  they  could  capture  or  destroy  the  Spanish 
ships,  and  master  the  troops  on  shore  before  rein- 
forcements could  arrive,  and  before  they  had  time 
to  complete  their  defences.^ 

Such  were  the  views  of  Ribaut,  with  which, 
not  unnaturally,  Laudonniere  finds  fault,  and  Le 
Moyne  echoes  the  censures  of  his  chief.  And  yet 
the  plan  seems  as  well  conceived  as  it  was  bold, 
lacking  nothing  but  success.  The  Spaniards, 
stricken  with  terror,  owed*  their  safety  to  the 
elements,  or,  as  they  say,  to  the  special  interpo- 
sition of  the  Holy  Virgin.  Menendez  was  a  leader 
fit  to  stand  with  Cortes  and  Pizarro ;  but  he  was 
matched  with  a  man  as  cool,  skilful,  prompt,  and 
daring  as  himself.  The  traces  that  have  come 
down  to  us  indicate  in  Ribaut  one  far  above  the 
common  stamp,  —  "a  distinguished  man,  of  many 
high  qualities,"  as  even  the  fault-finding  Le  Moyne 


1  Ribaut  showed  Laudonniere  a  letter  from  Coligny,  appended  to 
which  were  these  words  :  "  Captaine  Jean  Ribaut :  En  ferniant  ceste 
lettre  i'ay  eu  certain  aduis,  comme  dom  Peti-o  Melandes  se  part  d'Espagne, 
pour  aller  a  la  coste  de  la  Nouvelle  Trace  :  Vous  regarderez  de  n'endurer 
qu'il  n'entrepreine  snr  nous,  non  plus  qu'il  veut  que  nous  n'entreprenions 
sur  eux."  Ribaut  interpreted  this  into  a  command  to  attack  the  Span- 
iards.    Laudonniere,  106. 


116  MENENDEZ.  [15G5. 

calls  him ;  devout  after  the  best  spirit  of  the  Re- 
form ;  and  with  a  human  heart  under  his  steel 
breastplate. 

La  Grange  and  other  officers  took  part  with 
Laudonniere,  and  opposed  the  plan  of  an  attack 
by  sea ;  but  Ribaut's  conviction  was  unshaken, 
and  the  order  was  given.  All  his  own  soldiers 
fit  for  duty  embarked  in  haste,  and  with  them 
went  La  Caille,  Arlac,  and,  as  it  seems,  Ottigny, 
with  the  best  of  Laudonniere's  men.  Even  Le 
Moyne,  though  wounded  in  the  fight  with  Outi- 
na's  warriors,  went  on  board  to  bear  his  part  in 
the  fray,  and  would  have  sailed  with  the  rest  had 
not  Ottigny,  seeing  his  disabled  condition,  ordered 
him  back  to  the  fort. 

On  the  tenth,  the  ships,  crowded  with  troops, 
set  sail.  Ribaut  was  gone,  and  with  him  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  colony.  The  miserable  remnant 
watched  his  receding  sails  with  dreary  forebod- 
ing, —  a  foreboding  which  seemed  but  too  just, 
when,  on  the  next  day,  a  storm,  more  violent  than 
the  Indians  had  ever  known,^  howled  through  the 
forest  and  lashed  the  ocean  into  fury.  Most  for- 
lorn was  the  plight  of  these  exiles,  left,  it  might 
be,  the  prey  of  a  band  of  ferocious  bigots  more 
terrible  than  the  fiercest  hordes  of  the  wilderness ; 
and  when  night  closed  on  the  stormy  river  and 
the  gloomy  waste  of  pines,  what  dreams  of  terror 
may  not  have  haunted  the  helpless  women  who 
crouched  under  the  hovels  of  Fort  Caroline ! 

The  fort  was  in  a  ruinous  state,  with  the  pali- 

1  Laudonniere,  107. 


1565.]  FORT  CAROLINE   DEFENCELESS.  117 

sade  on  the  water  side  broken  down,  and  three 
breaches  in  the  rampart.  In  the  driving  rain, 
nrged  by  the  sick  Laudonniere,  the  men,  be- 
drenched  and  disheartened,  labored  as  they  could 
to  strengthen  their  defences.  Their  muster-roll 
shows  but  a  beggarly  array.  "  Now,"  says  Lau- 
donniere, "  let  them  which  have  bene  bold  to  say 
that  I  had  men  ynough  left  me,  so  that  I  had 
meanes  to  defend  my  selfe,  give  eare  a  little  now 
vnto  mee,  and  if  they  have  eyes  in  their  heads,  let 
them  see  what  men  I  had."  Of  Ribaut's  follow- 
ers left  at  the  fort,  only  nine  or  ten  had  weapons, 
while  only  two  or  three  knew  how  to  use  them. 
Four  of  them  were  boys,  who  kept  Ribaut's  dogs, 
and  another  was  his  cook.  Besides  these,  he  had 
left  a  brewer,  an  old  crossbow-maker,  two  shoe- 
makers, a  player  on  the  spinet,  four  valets,  a  car- 
penter of  threescore,  —  Challeux,  no  doubt,  who 
has  left  us  the  story  of  his  woes,  —  with  a  crowd 
of  women,  children,  and  eighty-six  camp-follow- 
ers.^ To  these  were  added  the  remnant  of  Lau- 
donniere's  men,  of  whom  seventeen  could  bear 
arms,  the  rest  being  sick  or  disabled  by  wounds 
received  in  the  fight  with  Outina. 

Laudonniere  divided  his  force,  such  as  it  was, 
into  two  watches,  over  which  he  placed  two  offi- 
cers. Saint  Cler  and  La  Vigne,  gave  them  lanterns 
for  going  the  rounds,  and  an  hour-glass  for  setting 
the  time ;  while  he  himself,  giddy  with  weakness 
and  fever,  was  every  night  at  the  guard-room. 

1  The  muster-roll  is  from  Laudonniere.  Hakluyt's  translation  is  in- 
correct. 


118  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

It  was  the  night  of  the  nmeteenth  of  September, 
the  season  of  tempests ;  floods  of  rain  drenched  tlie 
sentries  on  the  rampart,  and,  as  day  dawned  on 
the  dripping  barracks  and  dehiged  parade,  the 
storm  mcreased  in  violence.  What  enemy  could 
venture  out  on  such  a  night  ?  La  Vigne,  who  had 
the  watch,  took  pity  on  the  sentries  and  on  him- 
self, dismissed  them,  and  went  to  his  quarters. 
He  little  knew  what  human  energies,  urged  by 
ambition,  avarice,  bigotry,  and  desperation,  will 
dare  and  do. 

To  return  to  the  Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine. 
On  the  morning  of  the  eleventh,  the  crew  of  one 
of  their  smaller  vessels,  lying  outside  the  bar, 
with  Menendez  himself  on  board,  saw  through  the 
twilight  of  early  dawn  two  of  Ribaut's  ships  close 
upon  them.  Not  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring. 
There  was  no  escape,  and  the  Spaniards  fell  on 
their  knees  in  supplication  to  Our  Lady  of  Utrera, 
explaining  to  her  that  the  heretics  were  upon 
them,  and  begging  her  to  send  them  a  little  wind. 
"  Forthwith,"  says  Mendoza,  '-  one  would  have 
said  that  Our  Lady  herself  came  down  upon  the 
vessel."  ^  A  wind  sprang  up,  and  the  Spaniards 
found  refuge  behind  the  bar.  The  returning  day 
showed  to  their  astonished  eyes  all  the  ships  of 
Ribaut,  their  decks  black  with  men,  hovering  off 
the  entrance  of  the  port ;  but  Heaven  had  them 
in  its  charge,  and  again  they  experienced  its  pro- 

1  Mendoza,  Rehcion.  Menendez,  too,  imputes  the  escape  to  divine 
interposition.  "  Our  Lord  permitted  by  a  miracle  that  we  should  be 
saved."     Letter  of  Menendez  to  the  King,  15  October,  1565. 


1565.]  HIS  DESPERATE  RESOLUTION.  119 

tecting  care.  The  breeze  sent  by  Our  Lady  of 
Utrera  rose  to  a  gale,  then  to  a  furious  tempest ; 
and  the  grateful  Adelantado  saw  through  rack 
and  mist  the  ships  of  his  enemy  tossed  wildly 
among  the  raging  waters  as  they  struggled  to 
gain  an  offing.  With  exultation  in  his  heart,  the 
skilful  seaman  read  their  danger,  and  saw  them  in 
his  mind's  eye  dashed  to  utter  wreck  among  the 
sand-bars  and  breakers  of  the  lee  shore. 

A  bold  thought  seized  him.  He  would  march 
overland  with  five  hundred  men,  and  attack  Fort 
Caroline  while  its  defenders  were  absent.  First 
he  ordered  a  mass,  and  then  he  called  a  council. 
Doubtless  it  was  in  that  great  Indian  lodge  of 
Seloy,  where  he  had  made  his  headquarters ;  and 
here,  in  this  dim  and  smoky  abode,  nobles,  officers, 
and  priests  gathered  at  his  summons.  There  were 
fears  and  doubts  and  murmurings,  but  Menendez 
was  desperate ;  not  with  the  mad  desperation  that 
strikes  wildly  and  at  random,  but  the  still  white 
heat  that  melts  and  burns  and  seethes  with  a 
steady,  unquenchable  fierceness.  "  Comrades,"  he 
said,  "  the  time  has  come  to  show  our  courage  and 
our  zeal.  This  is  God's  war,  and  w^e  must  not 
flinch.  It  is  a  war  with  Lutherans,  and  we  must 
wage  it  with  blood  and  fire."  ^ 

But  his  hearers  gave  no  response.  They  had 
not  a  million  of  ducats  at  stake,  and  were  not 
ready  for  a  cast  so  desperate.  A  clamor  of  re- 
monstrance rose  from  the  circle.      Many  voices, 

1  "  A  sangre  y  fuego."  Barcia,  78,  where  the  speech  is  given  at 
length. 


120  MENENDEZ.  [15G5. 

that  of  Mendoza  among  the  rest,  urged  waiting 
till  their  main  forces  should  arrive.  The  excite- 
ment spread  to  the  men  without,  and  the  swarthy, 
black-bearded  crowd  broke  into  tumults  mounting 
almost  to  mutiny,  while  an  officer  was  heard  to 
say  that  he  would  not  go  on  such  a  hare-brained 
errand  to  be  butchered  like  a  beast.  But  noth- 
ing could  move  the  Adelantado.  His  appeals  or 
his  threats  did  their  work  at  last ;  the  confusion 
was  quelled,  and  preparation  was  made  for  the 
march. 

On  the  morning  of  the  seventeenth,  five  hun- 
dred arquebusiers  and  pikemen  were  drawn  up 
before  the  camp.  To  each  was  given  six  pounds 
of  biscuit  and  a  canteen  filled  with  wine.  Two 
Indians  and  a  renegade  Frenchman,  called  Fran- 
cois Jean,  were  to  guide  them,  and  twenty  Bis- 
cayan  axemen  moved  to  the  front  to  clear  the 
way.  Through  floods  of  driving  rain,  a  hoarse 
voice  shouted  the  word  of  command,  and  the  sul- 
len march  began. 

With  dismal  misgiving,  Mendoza  watched  the 
last  files  as  they  vanished  in  the  tempestuous  for- 
est. Two  days  of  suspense  ensued,  when  a  messen- 
ger came  back  with  a  letter  from  the  Adelantado, 
announcing  that  he  had  nearly  reached  the  French 
fort,  and  that  on  the  morrow,  September  the  twen- 
tieth, at  sunrise,  he  hoped  to  assault  it.  "May 
the  Divine  Majesty  deign  to  protect  us,  for  He 
knows  that  we  have  need  of  it,"  writes  the  scared 
chaplain  ;  "  the  Adelantado' s  great  zeal  and  cour- 
age make  us  hope  he  will    succeed,  but.   for    the 


1565.  J  MARCHES  ON  FORT  CAROLINE.  121 

good  of  his  Majesty's  service,  he  ought  to  be  a  little 
less  ardent  in  pursuing  his  schemes." 

Meanwhile  the  five  hundred  pushed  their  march, 
now  toiling  across  the  inundated  savannas,  waist- 
deep  in  bulrushes  and  mud ;  now  filing  through 
the  open  forest  to  the  moan  and  roar  of  the  storm- 
racked  pines  ;  now  hacking  their  way  through 
palmetto  thickets  ;  and  now  turning  from  their 
path  to  shun  some  pool,  quagmire,  cypress  swamp, 
or  "  hummock,"  matted  with  impenetrable  bushes, 
brambles,  and  vines.  As  they  bent  before  the 
tempest,  the  water  trickling  from  the  rusty  head- 
piece crept  clammy  and  cold  betwixt  the  armor 
and  the  skin  ;  and  when  they  made  their  wretched 
bivouac,  their  bed  was  the  spongy  soil,  and  the 
exhaustless  clouds  their  tent.^ 

The  night  of  Wednesday,  the  nineteenth,  found 
their  vanguard  in  a  deep  forest  of  pines,  less  than 
a  mile  from  Fort  Caroline,  and  near  the  low  hills 
which  extended  in  its  rear,  and  formed  a  continua- 
tion of  St.  John's  Bluff.  All  around  was  one  great 
morass.  In  pitchy  darkness,  knee-deep  in  weeds 
and  water,  half  starved,  worn  with  toil  and  lack 
of  sleep,  drenched  to  the  skin,  their  provisions 
spoiled,  their  ammunition  wet,  and  their  spirit 
chilled  out  of  them,  they  stood  in  shivering  groups, 
cursing  the  enterprise  and  the  author  of  it.  Me- 
nendez  heard  Fernando  Perez,  an  ensign,  say 
aloud  to  his  comrades :  "  This  Asturian  Corito, 
who  knows  no  more  of  war  on  shore  than  an  ass, 

^  I  have  examined  th^  country  on  the  line  of  march  of  Meuendez.     In 
many  places  it  retains  its  original  features. 


122  MENENDEZ.  |15G5 

has  betrayed  us  all.  By  God,  if  my  advice  had 
been  followed,  he  would  have  had  his  deserts  the 
day  he  set  out  on  this  cursed  journey  ! "  ^ 

The  Adelantado  pretended  not  to  hear. 

Two  hours  l^efore  dawn  he  called  his  officers 
about  him.  All  night,  he  said,  he  had  been  pray- 
ing to  God  and  the  Virgin. 

"  Sefiores,  what  shall  we  resolve  on  ?  Our  am- 
munition and  provisions  are  gone.  Our  case  is 
desperate."  ^  And  he  urged  a  bold  rush  on  the 
fort. 

But  men  and  officers  alike  were  disheartened 
and  disgusted.  They  listened  coldly  and  sullenly ; 
many  were  for  returning  at  every  risk ;  none  were 
in  the  mood  for  fight.  Menendez  put  forth  all  his 
eloquence,  till  at  length  the  dashed  spirits  of  his 
followers  were  so  far  revived  that  they  consented 
to  follow  him. 

All  fell  on  their  knees  in  the  marsh  ;  then,  ris- 
ing, they  formed  their  ranks  and  began  to  advance, 
guided  by  the  renegade  Frenchman,  whose  hands, 
to  make  sure  of  him,  were  tied  behind  his  back. 
Groping  and  stumbling  in  the  dark  among  trees, 
roots,  and  underbrush,  buffeted  by  wind  and  rain, 
and  lashed  in  the  face  by  the  recoiling  boughs 
which  they  could  not  see,  they  soon  lost  their  way, 
fell  into  confusion,  and  came  to  a  stand,  in  a  mood 


1  "  Como  nos  trae  vendidos  este  Asturiano  Corito,  que  no  sabe  de 
Guerra  de  Tierra,  mas  que  un  Jumento !  "  etc.  Barcia,  79.  Corito  is  a 
nickname  given  to  the  inhabitants  of  Biscay  and  the  Asturias. 

2  "  Ved  aora,  Senores,  que  deterniinacion  tomaremos,  ballandonos  can- 
sados,  perdidos,  sin  Municiones  ni  Comida,  ni  esperan^a  de  remediar- 
nos  ?  "     Barcia,  79. 


1565.]  THE  FRENCH  FORT  TAKEN.  123 

more  savagely  desponding  than  before.  But  soon 
a  glimmer  of  returning  day  came  to  their  aid,  and 
showed  them  the  dusky  sky,  and  the  dark  columns 
of  the  surrounding  pines.  Menendez  ordered  the 
men  forward  on  pain  of  death.  They  obeyed,  and 
presently,  emerging  from  the  forest,  could  dimly 
discern  the  ridge  of  a  low  hill,  behind  which,  the 
Frenchman  told  them,  was  the  fort.  Menendez, 
with  a  few  officers  and  men,  cautiously  mounted 
to  the  top.  Beneath  lay  Fort  Caroline,  three  bow- 
shots distant ;  but  the  rain,  the  imperfect  light, 
and  a  cluster  of  intervening  houses  prevented  his 
seeing  clearly,  and  he  sent  two  officers  to  recon- 
noitre. As  they  descended,  they  met  a  solitary 
Frenchman.  They  knocked  him  down  with  a 
sheathed  sword,  wounded  him,  took  him  prisoner, 
kept  him  for  a  time,  and  then  stabbed  him  as 
they  returned  towards  the  top  of  the  hill.  Here, 
clutching  their  weapons,  all  the  gang  stood  in 
fierce  expectancy. 

"  Santiago  !  "  cried  Menendez.  '■^  At  them  ! 
God  is  with  us  !  Victory  !  "  ^  And,  shouting 
their  hoarse  war-cries,  the  Spaniards  rushed  down 
the  slope  like  starved  wolves. 

Not  a  sentry  was  on  the  rampart.  La  Vigne, 
the  officer  of  the  guard,  had  just  gone  to  his  quar- 
ters ;  but  a  trumpeter,  who  chanced  to  remain, 
saw,  through  sheets  of  rain,  the  swarm  of  assail- 
ants sweeping  down  the  hill.  He  blew  the  alarm, 
and  at  the  summons  a  few  half-naked  soldiers  ran 
wildly   out   of   the   barracks.      It   was   too   late. 

1  Barcia,  80. 


124  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

Through  the  breaches  and  over  the  ramparts  the 
Spaniards  came  pouring  in,  with  shouts  of  "  San- 
tiago !  Santiago  !  " 

Sick  men  leaped  from  their  beds.  Women  and 
children,  blind  with  fright,  darted  shrieking  from 
the  houses.  A  fierce,  gaunt  visage,  the  thrust  of 
a  pike,  or  blow  of  a  rusty  halberd,  —  such  was  the 
greeting  that  met  all  alike.  Laudonniere  snatched 
his  sword  and  target,  and  ran  towards  the  prin- 
cipal breach,  calling  to  his  soldiers.  A  rush  of 
Spaniards  met  him ;  his  men  were  cut  down 
around  him  ;  and  he,  with  a  soldier  named  Bar- 
tholomew, was  forced  back  into  the  yard  of  his 
house.  Here  stood  a  tent,  and,  as  the  pursuers 
stumbled  among  the  cords,  he  escaped  behind 
Ottigny's  house,  sprang  through  the  breach  in  the 
western  rampart,  and  fled  for  the  woods.^ 

Le  Moyne  had  been  one  of  the  guard.  Scarcely 
had  he  thrown  himself  into  a  hammock  which  was 
slung  in  his  room,  when  a  savage  shout,  and  a 
wild  uproar  of  shrieks,  outcries,  and  the  clash  of 
weapons,  brought  him  to  his  feet.  He  rushed  by 
two  Spaniards  in  the  door-way,  ran  behind  the 
guard-house,  leaped  through  an  embrasure  into 
the  ditch,  and  escaped  to  the  forest.^ 

Challeux,  the  carpenter,  was  going  betimes  to 
his  work,  a  chisel  in  his  hand.  He  was  old,  but 
pike  and  partisan  brandished  at  his  back  gave 
wings  to  his  flight.  In  the  ecstasy  of  his  terror, 
he  leaped  upward,  clutched  the  top  of  the  palisade, 
and  threw  himself  over  with  the  agility  of  a  boy. 

1  Laudonniere,  110;  Le  Moyne,  24.  ^  j^g  Moyne,  25. 


]565.]  THE  FUGITIVES.  125 

He  ran  up  the  hill,  no  one  pursuing,  and,  as  he 
neared  the  edge  of  the  forest,  turned  and  looked 
back.  From  the  high  ground  where  he  stood,  he 
could  see  the  butchery,  the  fury  of  the  conquer- 
ors, and  the  agonizing  gestures  of  the  victims. 
He  turned  again  in  horror,  and  plunged  into  the 
woods.^  As  he  tore  his  way  tlu'ough  the  briers 
and  thickets,  he  met  several  fugitives  escaped  like 
himself.  Others  presently  came  up,  haggard  and 
wild,  like  men  broken  loose  from  the  jaws  of 
death.  They  gathered  together  and  consulted. 
One  of  them,  known  as  Master  Robert,  in  great 
repute  for  his  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  was  for  re- 
turning and  surrendering  to  the  Spaniards.  "  They 
are  men,"  he  said  ;  "  perhaps,  when  their  fury  is 
over,  they  will  spare  our  lives ;  and,  even  if  they 
kill  us,  it  will  only  be  a  few  moments'  pain.  Better 
so,  than  to  starve  here  in  the  woods,  or  be  torn  to 
pieces  by  wild  beasts."  ^ 

The  greater  part  of  the  naked  and  despairing 
company  assented,  but  Challeux  was  of  a  different 
mind.  The  old  Huguenot  quoted  Scripture,  and 
called  the  names  of  prophets  and  apostles  to  wit- 
ness, that,  in  the  direst  extremity,  God  would  not 
abandon  those  who  rested  their  faith  in  Him. 
Six  of  the  fugitives,  however,  still  held  to  their 
desperate  purpose.  Issuing  from  the  woods,  they 
descended  towards  the  fort,  and,  as  with  beating 
hearts  their  comrades  watched  the  result,  a  troop 
of  Spaniards  rushed  out,  hewed  them  down  with 
swords  and  halberds,  and  dragged  their  bodies  to 

1  Challeux  in  Ternaux-Compans,  272.  2  i^iij.^  275. 


126  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

the  brink  of  the  river,  where  the  victims  of  the 
massacre  were  already  flung  in  heaps. 

Le  Moyne,  with  a  soldier  named  Grandchemin, 
whom  he  had  met  in  his  flight,  toiled  all  day  through 
the  woods  and  marshes,  in  the  hope  of  reaching  the 
small  vessels  anchored  behind  the  bar.  Night  found 
them  in  a  morass.  No  vessel  could  be  seen,  and  the 
soldier,  in  despair,  broke  into  angry  upljraidings 
against  his  companion,  —  saying  that  he  would 
go  back  and  give  himself  up.  Le  Moyne  at  first 
opposed  him,  then  yielded.  But  when  they  drew 
near  the  fort,  and  heard  the  uproar  of  savage 
revelry  that  rose  from  within,  the  artist's  heart 
failed  him.  He  embraced  his  companion,  and  the 
soldier  advanced  alone.  A  party  of  Spaniards 
came  out  to  meet  him.  He  kneeled,  and  begged 
for  his  life.  He  was  answered  by  a  death-blow ; 
and  the  horrified  Le  Moyne,  from  his  hiding-place 
in  the  thicket,  saw  his  limbs  hacked  apart,  stuck 
on  pikes,  and  borne  off  in  triumph.^ 

Meanwhile,  Menendez,  mustering  his  followers, 
had  offered  thanks  to  God  for  their  victory  ;  and 
this  pious  butcher  wept  with  emotion  as  he  re- 
counted the  favors  which  Heaven  had  showered 
upon  their  enterprise.  His  admiring  historian 
gives  it  in  proof  of  his  humanity,  that,  after  the 
rage  of  the  assault  was  spent,  he  ordered  that 
women,  infants,  and  boys  under  fifteen  should 
thenceforth  be  spared.  Of  these,  by  his  own  ac- 
count, there  were  about  fifty.  Writing  in  October 
to  the  King,  he  says  that  they  cause  him  great 

1  Le  Moyne,  26 


1565.]  FEROCITY   OF   THE   SPANIARDS.  127 

anxiety,  since  he  fears  the  anger  of  God  should  he 
now  put  them  to  death  in  cold  blood,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  is  in  dread  lest  the  venom  of  their 
heresy  should  infect  his  men. 

A  hundred  and  forty-two  persons  were  slain  in 
and  around  the  fort,  and  their  bodies  lay  heaped 
togetjier  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  Nearly  opposite 
was  anchored  a  small  vessel,  called  the  Pearl,  com- 
manded by  Jacques  Ribaut,  son  of  the  Admiral. 
.The  ferocious  soldiery,  maddened  with  victory  and 
drunk  with  blood,  crowded  to  the  water's  edge, 
shouting  insults  to  those  on  board,  mangling  the 
corpses,  tearing  out  their  eyes,  and  throwing  them 
towards  the  vessel  from  the  points  of  their  dag- 
gers.^ Thus  did  the  Most  Catholic  Philip  cham- 
pion the  cause  of  Heaven  in  the  New  World. 

It  was  currently  believed  in  France,  and,  though 
no  eyewitness  attests  it,  there  is  reason  to  think 
it  true,  that  among  those  murdered  at  Fort  Caro- 
line there  were  some  who  died  a  death  of  peculiar 
ignominy.  Menendez,  it  is  affirmed,  hanged  his 
prisoners  on  trees,  and  placed  over  them  the  in- 
scription, "  I  do  this,  not  as  to  Frenchmen,  but  as 
to  Lutherans."  ^ 


^  "  .  .  .  .  car,  arrachans  les  yeux  des  morts,  les  ficho3'ent  au  bout  des 
dagues,  et  puis  auec  cris,  heurlemens  &  toute  gaudisserie,  les  iettoyent 
centre  nos  Fran9ois  vers  I'eau."     Challeux,  (1566,)  34. 

'■  lis  arracherent  les  yeulx  qu'ils  avoient  meurtris,  et  les  aiant  fichez  h, 
la  poincte  de  leurs  dagues  faisoieut  entre  eulx  a  qui  plus  loing  les  jetteroit." 
Pre'vost,  Repnnse  de  fa  Flon'de.  This  is  a  contemporary  MS.  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale,  printed  by  Ternaux-Compans  in  his  Recueil.  It 
will  be  often  cited  hereafter. 

1  Pre'vost  in  Ternaux-Compans,  357  ;  Lescarbot,  (1612,)  I.  127  ;  Charle- 
voix, Nouvelle  France,  (1744,)  I.  81 ;  and  nearly  all  the  French  secondary 


128  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

The  Spaniards  gained  a  great  booty  in  armor, 
clothing,  and  provisions.  "  Nevertheless,"  says 
the  devout  Mendoza,  after  closing  his  inventory 
of  the  plunder,  "  the  greatest  profit  of  this  victory  is 
the  triumph  which  our  Lord  has  granted  us,  whereby 
His  holy  Gospel  will  be  introduced  into  this  coun- 
try, a  thing  so  needful  for  saving  so  many  souls 
from  perdition."  Again  he  writes  in  his  journal, 
"  We  owe  to  God  and  His  Mother,  more  than  to 
human  strength,  this  victory  over  the  adversaries 
of  the  holy  Catholic  religion." 

To  whatever  influence,  celestial  or  other,  the  ex- 
ploit may  best  be  ascribed,  the  victors  were  not 
yet  quite  content  with  their  success.  Two  small 
French  vessels,  besides  that  of  Jacques  Ribaut,  still 
lay  within  range  of  the  fort.  When  the  storm  had 
a  little  abated,  the  cannon  were  turned  on  them. 
One  of  them  was  sunk,  but  Ribaut,  with  the  others, 
escaped  down  the  river,  at  the  mouth  of  which 
several  light  craft,  including  that  bought  from  the 
English,  had  been  anchored  since  the  arrival  of  his 
father's  squadron. 

While  this  was  passing,  the  wretched  fugitives 
were  flying  from  the  scene  of  massacre  through  a 
tempest,  of  whose  persistent  violence  all  the  nar- 
ratives speak  with  wonder.  Exhausted,  starved, 
half  naked,  —  for  most  of  them  had  escaped  in 
their  shirts,  —  they  pushed  their  toilsome  way 
amid  the  ceaseless  wrath  of  the  elements.  A  few 
sought  refuge  in  Indian  villages ;  but  these,  it  is 

writers.     Barcia  denies  the  story.     How  deep  the  indignatiou  it  kindled 
in  France  will  appear  hereafter. 


1565.]  THE  FUGITIVES.  129 

said,  were  afterwards  killed  by  the  Spaniards. 
The  greater  number  attempted  to  reach  the  ves- 
sels at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  Among  the  latter 
was  Le  Moyne,  who,  notwithstanding  his  former 
failure,  was  toiling  through  the  mazes  of  tangled 
forests,  when  he  met  a  Belgian  soldier,  with  the 
woman  described  as  Laudonniere's  maid-servant, 
who  was  wounded  in  the  breast ;  and,  urging  their 
flight  towards  the  vessels,  they  fell  in  with  other 
fugitives,  including  Laudonniere  himself.  As  they 
struggled  through  the  salt  marsh,  the  rank  sedge 
cut  their  naked  limbs,  and  the  tide  rose  to  their 
waists.  Presently  they  descried  others,  toiling  like 
themselves  through  the  matted  vegetation,  and 
recognized  Challeux  and  his  companions,  also  in 
quest  of  the  vessels.  The  old  man  still,  as  he  tells 
us,  held  fast  to  his  chisel,  which  had  done  good 
service  in  cutting  poles  to  aid  the  party  to  cross 
the  deep  creeks  that  channelled  the  morass.  The 
united  band,  twenty-six  in  all,  were  cheered  at 
length  by  the  sight  of  a  moving  sail.  It  was  the 
vessel  of  Captain  Mallard,  who,  informed  of  the 
massacre,  was  standing  along  shore  in  the  hope  of 
picking  up  some  of  the  fugitives.  He  saw  their 
signals,  and  sent  boats  to  their  rescue ;  but  such 
was  their  exhaustion,  that,  had  not  the  sailors, 
wading  to  their  armpits  among  the  rushes,  borne 
them  out  on  their  shoulders,  few  could  have  es- 
caped. Laudonniere  was  so  feeble  that  nothing 
but  the  support  of  a  soldier,  who  held  him  upright 
in  his  arms,  had  saved  him  from  drownins:  in  the 
marsh. 

9 


130  MENENDEZ.  [1565. 

On  gaining  the  friendly  decks,  the  fugitives 
counselled  together.  One  and  all,  they  sickened 
for  the  sight  of  France. 

After  waiting  a  few  days,  and  saving  a  few 
more  stragglers  from  the  marsh,  they  prepared  to 
sail.  Young  Ribaut,  though  ignorant  of  his  fa- 
ther's fate,  assented  with  something  more  than 
willingness ;  indeed,  his  behavior  throughout  had 
been  stamped  with  weakness  and  poltroonery.  On 
the  twenty-fifth  of  September  they  put  to  sea  in 
two  vessels ;  and,  after  a  voyage  the  privations  of 
which  were  fatal  to  many  of  them,  they  arrived, 
one  party  at  Rochelle,  the  other  at  Swansea,  in 
Wales. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

1565. 

MASSACRE  OF  THE   HERETICS. 

Menendez  returns  to  St.  Augustine.  —  Tidings  of  the  French. 
—  Ribaut    shipwrecked.  —  The    March    of    Menendez.  —  He 

DISCOVERS    the     FrENCH.  INTERVIEWS.  —  HoPES     OF     MeRCY.  

Surrender  op  the  French.  —  Massacre.  —  Return  to  St.  Au- 
gustine.—  Tidings  of  Ribaut's  Party.  —  His  Interview  with 
Menendez.  —  Deceived  and  betrayed.  —  Murdered.  —  Another 
Massacre.  —  French  Accounts.  —  Schemes  of  the  Spaniards. — 
Survivors  of  the  Carnage. 

In  suspense  and  fear,  hourly  looking  seaward 
for  the  dreaded  fleet  of  Jean  Ribaut,  the  chaplain 
Mendoza  and  his  brother  priests  held  watch  and 
ward  at  St.  Augustine  in  the  Adelantado's  ab- 
sence. Besides  the  celestial  guardians  whom  they 
ceased  not  to  invoke,  they  had  as  protectors  Bar- 
tholomew Menendez,  the  brother  of  the  Adelan- 
tado,  and  about  a  hundred  soldiers.  Day  and 
night  they  toiled  to  throw  up  earthworks  and 
strengthen  their  position. 

A  week  elapsed,  when  they  saw  a  man  running 
towards  them,  shouting  as  he  ran. 

Mendoza  went  to  meet  him. 

"  Victory  !  victory  !  "  gasped  the  breathless 
messenger.  "  The  French  fort  is  ours  !  "  And 
he  flung  his  arms  about  the  chaplain's  neck.^ 

"  To-day,"    writes    the    priest    in    his    journal, 

1  Mendoza,  Relaaon. 


132  MASSACRE   OF   THE   HERETICS.  11565. 

"  Monday,  the  twenty-fourth,  came  our  good  gen- 
eral himself,  with  fifty  soldiers,  very  tired,  like  all 
those  who  were  with  him.  As  soon  as  they  told 
me  he  was  coming,  I  ran  to  my  lodging,  took  a 
new  cassock,  the  best  I  had,  put  on  my  surplice, 
and  went  out  to  meet  him  with  a  crucifix  in 
my  hand ;  whereupon  he,  like  a  gentleman  and  a 
good  Christian,  kneeled  down  with  all  his  follow- 
ers, and  gave  the  Lord  a  thousand  thanks  for  the 
great  favors  he  had  received  from  Him." 

In  solemn  procession,  with  four  priests  in  front 
chanting  Te  Deum,  the  victors  entered  St.  Augus- 
tine in  triumph. 

On  the  twenty-eighth,  when  the  weary  Adelan- 
tado  was  taking  his  siesta  under  the  sylvan  roof 
of  Seloy,  a  troop  of  Indians  came  in  with  news 
that  quickly  roused  him  from  his  slumbers.  They 
had  seen  a  French  vessel  wrecked  on  the  coast 
towards  the  south.  Those  who  escaped  from  her 
were  four  or  six  leagues  off,  on  the  banks  of  a 
river  or  arm  of  the  sea,  which  they  could  not 
cross  .^ 

Menendez  instantly  sent  forty  or  fifty  men  in 
boats  to  reconnoitre.  Next,  he  called  the  chap- 
lain, —  for  he  would  fain  have  him  at  his  elbow 
to  countenance  the  deeds  he  meditated,  —  and, 
with  him,  twelve  soldiers,  and  two  Indian  guides, 
embarked  in  another  boat.  They  rowed  along 
the  channel  between  Anastasia  Island  and  the 
main  shore ;  then  they  landed,  struck  across  the 

1  Mendoza,  Rclacion ;  Soli's  in  Barcia,  85 ;  Letter  of  Meuendez  to  the 
King,  18  October,  1565. 


1565.]  WRECK   OF   THE   FRENCH.  133 

island  on  foot,  traversed  plains  and  marshes, 
reached  the  sea  towards  night,  and  searched  along 
shore  till  ten  o'clock  to  find  their  comrades  who 
had  gone  before.  At  length,  with  mutual  joy, 
the  two  parties  met,  and  bivouacked  together  on 
the  sands.  Not  far  distant  they  could  see  lights. 
These  were  the  camp-fires  of  the  shipwrecked 
French. 

To  relate  with  precision  the  fortunes  of  these 
unhappy  men  is  impossible ;  for  henceforward  the 
French  narratives  are  no  longer  the  narratives  of 
eyewitnesses. 

It  has  been  seen  how,  when  on  the  point  of 
assailing  the  Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine,  Jean 
Ribaut  was  thwarted  by  a  gale,  which  they  hailed 
as  a  divine  interposition.  The  gale  rose  to  a  tem- 
pest of  strange  fury.  Within  a  few  days,  all  the 
French  ships  were  cast  on  shore,  between  Matanzas 
Inlet  and  Cape  Canaveral.  According  to  a  letter 
of  Menendez,  many  of  those  on  board  were  lost ; 
but  others  affirm  that  all  escaped  but  a  captain, 
La  Grange,  an  officer  of  high  merit,  who  was 
washed  from  a  floating  mast.^  One  of  the  ships 
was  wrecked  at  a  point  farther  northward  than 
the  rest,  and  it  was  her  company  whose  camp- 
fires  were  seen  by  the  Spaniards  at  their  bivouac 
on  the  sands  of  Anastasia  Island.  They  were 
endeat^oring  to  reach  Fort  Caroline,  of  the  fate 
of  which  they  knew  nothing,  while  RilDaut  with 
the  remainder  was  farther  southward,  struggling 
through   the   wilderness   towards   the  same  goal. 

1  Challeux,  (1566,)  46. 


134  MASSACRE   OF   THE   HERETICS.  [1565. 

What  befell  the  latter  will  appear  hereafter.  Of 
the  fate  of  the  former  party  there  is  no  French 
record.  What  we  know  of  it  is  due  to  three 
Spanish  eyewitnesses,  Mendoza,  Doctor  Soils  de  las 
Meras,  and  Menendez  himself.  Solis  was  a  priest, 
and  brother-in-law  to  Menendez.  Like  Mendoza, 
he  minutely  describes  what  he  saw,  and,  like  him, 
was  a  red-hot  zealot,  lavishing  applause  on  the 
darkest  deeds  of  his  chief.  But  the  principal 
witness,  though  not  the  most  minute  or  most 
trustworthy,  is  Menendez,  in  his  long  despatches 
sent  from  Florida  to  the  King,  and  now  first 
brought  to  light  from  the  archives  of  Seville, — 
a  cool  record  of  unsurpassed  atrocities,  inscribed 
on  the  back  with  the  royal  indorsement,  "  Say  to 
him  that  he  has  done  well." 

When  the  Adelantado  saw  the  French  fires  in 
the  distance,  he  lay  close  in  his  bivouac,  and  sent 
two  soldiers  to  reconnoitre.  At  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  they  came  back,  and  reported  that  it 
was  impossible  to  get  at  the  enemy,  since  they 
were  on  the  farther  side  of  an  arm  of  the  sea 
(Matanzas  Inlet).  Menendez,  however,  gave  or- 
ders to  march,  and  before  daybreak  reached  the 
hither  bank,  where  he  hid  his  men  in  a  bushy 
hollow.  Thence,  as  it  grew  light,  they  could 
discern  the  enemy,  many  of  whom  were  search- 
ing along  the  sands  and  shallows  for  shell-fish, 
for  they  were  famishing.  A  thought  struck  Me- 
nendez, an  inspiration,  says  Mendoza,  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.-^     He  put  on  the  clothes  of  a  sailor,  entered 

1  "  Nuestro  bueu  General,  alumbrado  por  el  Espiritu  Santo,  dixo,"  etc, 


1565.]  INTERVIEWS  WITH  MENENDEZ.  135 

a  boat  which  had  been  brought  to  the  spot,  and 
rowed  towards  the  shipwrecked  men,  the  better  to 
learn  their  condition.  A  Frenchman  swam  out  to 
meet  him.  Menendez  demanded  what  men  they 
were. 

"  Followers  of  Ribaut,  Viceroy  of  the  King  of 
France,"  answered  the  swimmer. 

"  Are  you  Catholics  or  Lutherans  ?" 

"All  Lutherans." 

A  brief  dialogue  ensued,  during  which  the  Ade- 
lantado  declared  his  name  and  character,  and  the 
Frenchman  gave  an  account  of  the  designs  of 
Ribaut,  and  of  the  disaster  that  had  thwarted 
them.  He  then  swam  back  to  his  companions, 
but  soon  returned,  and  asked  safe  conduct  for  his 
captain  and  four  other  gentlemen,  who  wished  to 
hold  conference  with  the  Spanish  general.  Me- 
nendez gave  his  word  for  their  safety,  and,  return- 
ing to  the  shore,  sent  his  boat  to  bring  them  over. 
On  their  landing,  he  met  them  very  courteously. 
His  followers  were  kept  at  a  distance,  so  disposed 
behind  hills  and  among  bushes  as  to  give  an  ex- 
aggerated idea  of  their  force,  —  a  precaution  the 
more  needful,  as  they  were  only  about  sixty  in 
number,  while  the  French,  says  Soils,  were  above 
two  hundred.  Menendez,  however,  declares  that 
they  did  not  exceed  a  hundred  and  forty.  The 
French  officer  told  him  the  story  of  their  ship- 
wreck, and  begged  him  to  lend  them  a  boat  to  aid 
them  in  crossing  the  rivers  which  lay  between 
them  and  a  fort  of  their  King,  whither  they  were 
making  their  way. 


136  MASSACRE  OF  THE   HERETICS.  [1565. 

Then  came  again  the  ominous  question,  — 

"  Are  you  Catholics  or  Lutherans  ?  " 

"  We  are  Lutherans." 

"  Gentlemen,"  pursued  Menendez,  "your  fort  is 
taken,  and  all  in  it  are  put  to  the  sword."  And, 
in  proof  of  his  declaration,  he  caused  articles  plun- 
dered from  Fort  Caroline  to  be  shown  to  the  un- 
happy petitioners.  He  then  left  them,  and  went 
to  breakfast  with  his  officers,  first  ordering  food  to 
be  placed  before  them.  Having  breakfasted,  he 
returned  to  them. 

"  Are  you  convinced  now,"  he  asked,  "  that 
what  I  have  told  you  is  true  ?  " 

The  French  captain  assented,  and  implored  him 
to  lend  them  ships  in  which  to  return  home. 
Menendez  answered,  that  he  would  do  so  will- 
ingly if  they  were  Catholics,  and  if  he  had  ships 
to  spare,  but  he  had  none.  The  supplicants  then 
expressed  the  hope,  that  at  least  they  and  their 
followers  would  be  allowed  to  remain  with  the 
Spaniards  till  ships  could  be  sent  to  their  relief, 
since  there  was  peace  between  the  two  nations, 
whose  kings  were  friends  and  brothers. 

"All  Catholics,"  retorted  the  Spaniard,  "I  will 
befriend ;  but  as  you  are  of  the  New  Sect,  I  hold 
you  as  enemies,  and  wage  deadly  war  against"  you ; 
and  this  I  will  do  with  all  cruelty  [crueldad']  in 
this*  country,  where  I  command  as  Viceroy  and 
Captain-General  for  my  King.  I  am  here  to  plant 
the  Holy  Gospel,  that  the  Indians  may  be  en- 
lightened and  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Catholic  faith  of   our  Lord   Jesus   Christ,  as  the 


1565.]  INTERVIEWS  WITH  MENENDEZ.  137 

Roman  Church  teaches  it.  If  you  will  give  up 
your  arms  and  banners,  and  place  yourselves  at 
my  mercy,  you  may  do  so,  and  I  will  act  towards 
you  as  God  shall  give  me  grace.  Do  as  yon  will, 
for  other  than  this  you  can  have  neither  truce  nor 
friendship  with  me."  ^ 

Such  were  the  Adelantado's  words,  as  reported 
by  a  bystander,  his  admiring  brother-in-law ;  and 
that  they  contain  an  implied  assurance  of  mercy 
has  been  held,  not  only  by  Protestants,  but  by 
Catholics  and  Spaniards.^  The  report  of  Menendez 
himself  is  more  brief,  and  sufficiently  equivocal. 

"  I  answered,  that  they  could  give  up  their  arms 
and  place  themselves  under  my  mercy,  —  that  I 
should  do  with  them  what  our  Lord  should  order ; 
and  from  that  I  did  not  depart,  nor  would  I,  unless 
God  our  Lord  should  otherwise  inspire."  ^ 

1  "...  .  mas,  que  por  ser  ellos  de  la  Nueva  Secta,  los  tenia  por  Enemi- 
gos,  e  tenia  con  ellos  Guerra,  a  sangre,  e  fuego ;  e  que  esta  la  haria  con 
toda  crueldad  a  los  que  hallase  en  aquella  Mar,  e  Tierra,  donde  era  Virrei, 
e  Capitan  General  por  su  Rei ;  e  que  iba  a  plantar  el  Santo  Evangelic  en 
aquella  Tierra,  para  que  fuesen  alumbrados  los  Indios,  e  viniesen  al  cono- 
cimiento  de  la  Santa  Fe  Catolica  de  Jesu  Christo  N.  S.  como  lo  dice,  e 
cauta  la  Iglesia  Romana;  e  que  si  ellos  quieren  entregarle  las  Vanderas, 
e  las  Armas,  e  ponerse  en  su  Misericordia,  lo  pueden  hacer,  para  que 
el  haga  de  ellos  lo  que  Dios  le  diere  de  gracia,  6  que  hogan  lo  que  qui- 
sieren,  que  otras  Treguas,  ni  Amistades  no  avian  de  hacer  con  el." 
Sob's,  86. 

2  Salazar,  Crisis  del  Ensai/o,  23  ;  Padre  Felipe  Briet,  Anales. 

^  "  Respondiles,  que  las  annas  me  podia  rendir  y  ponerse  debaxo  de 
mi  gracia  para  que  Yo  hicie.se  dellos  aquello  que  Nuestro  Senor  me  orde- 
nase,  y  de  aqui  no  me  sacd,  ni  sacara  si  Dios  Nuestro  Senor  no  espirara 
en  mi  otra  cosa.  Y  ansi  se  fue  con  esta  respuesta,  y  se  vinierou  y  me 
entregaron  las  armas,  y  hiceles  amarrar  las  manos  atras  y  pasarlos  a 

cuchillo Parecidme   que  castigarlos   desta  manera  se  servia  Dios 

Nuestro  Senor,  y  V.  Mag"!,  para  que  adelante  nos  dexen  mas  libres  esta 
mala  seta  para  plantar  el  evangelic  en  estas  partes."  Carta  de  Pedra 
Menendez  d  su  Marjestad,  Fuerte  de  /S"  Agustin,  15  Octubre,  1565. 


138  MASSACRE   OF   THE  HERETICS.  [1565. 

One  of  the  Frenchmen  recrossed  to  consult  with 
his  companions.  In  two  hours  he  returned,  and 
offered  fifty  tliousand  ducats  to  secure  their  lives  ; 
but  Menendez,  says  his  brother-in-law,  would  give 
no  pledges.  On  the  other  hand,  expressions  in 
his  own  despatches  point  to  the  inference  that  a 
virtual  pledge  was  given,  at  least  to  certain  indi- 
viduals. 

The  starving  French  saw  no  resource  but  to 
yield  themselves  to  his  mercy.  The  boat  was 
again  sent  across  the  river.  It  returned  laden 
with  banners,  arquebuses,  swords,  targets,  and 
helmets.  The  Adelantado  ordered  twenty  soldiers 
to  bring  over  the  prisoners,  ten  at  a  time.  He 
then  took  the  French  officers  aside  behind  a  ridge 
of  sand,  two  gunshots  from  the  bank.  Here,  with 
courtesy  on  his  lips  and  murder  at  his  heart,  he 
said  :  — 

"  Gentlemen,  I  have  but  few  men,  and  you  are 
so  many  that,  if  you  were  free,  it  would  be  easy 
for  you  to  take  your  satisfaction  on  us  for  the 
people  we  killed  when  we  took  your  fort.  There- 
fore it  is  necessary  that  you  should  go  to  my 
camp,  four  leagues  from  this  place,  with  your 
hands  tied."  ^ 

Accordingly,  as  each  party  landed,  they  were 
led  out  of  sight  behind  the  sand-hill,  and  their 
hands  tied  behind   their   backs  with  the   matcli- 

^  "  Seiiores,  yo  tengo  poca  Gente,  e  no  mui  conocida,  e  Vosotros  sois 
muchos  e  audando  sueltos,  facil  cosa  os  seria  satisfaceros  de  Nosotros, 
por  la  Gente  que  os  degollamos  quando  ganamos  el  Fuerte  ;  ^  ansi  es 
nienester,  que  con  las  manos  atras,  amarradas,  marcheis  de  aqui  h,  quatro 
Leguas,  donde  yo  tengo  mi  Real."     SoKs,  87. 


1565.]  BUTCHERY.  .  139 

cords  of  the  arquebuses,  though  not  before  each 
had  been  supplied  with  food.  The  whole  day 
passed  before  all  were  brought  together,  bound 
and  helpless,  under  the  eye  of  the  inexorable  Ade- 
lantado.  But  now  Mendoza  interposed.  "  I  was 
a  priest,"  he  says,  "  and  had  the  bowels  of  a  man." 
He  asked  that,  if  there  were  Christians  —  that  is  to 
say.  Catholics  —  among  the  prisoners,  they  should 
be  set  apart.  Twelve  Breton  sailors  professed 
themselves  to  be  such ;  and  these,  together  with 
four  carpenters  and  calkers,  "  of  whom,"  writes 
Menendez,  ".I  was  in  great  need,"  were  put  on 
board  the  boat  and  sent  to  St.  Augustine.  The 
rest  were  ordered  to  march  thither  by  land. 

The  Adelantado  walked  in  advance  till  he  came 
to  a  lonely  spot,  not  far  distant,  deep  among  the 
bush-covered  hills.  Here  he  stopped,  and  with  his 
cane  drew  a  line  in  the  sand.  The  sun  was  set 
when  the  captive  Huguenots,  with  their  escort, 
reached  the  fatal  goal  thus  marked  out.  And  now 
let  the  curtain  drop ;  for  here,  in  the  name  of 
Heaven,  the  hounds  of  hell  were  turned  loose,  and 
the  savage  soldiery,  like  wolves  in  a  sheepfold, 
rioted  in  slaughter.  Of  all  that  wretched  com- 
pany, not  one  was  left  alive. 

"  I  had  their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs," 
writes  the  chief  criminal,  ''  and  themselves  put  to 
the  knife.  It  appeared  to  me  that,  by  thus  chas- 
tising them,  God  our  Lord  and  your  Majesty  were 
served ;  whereby  in  future  this  evil  sect  will  leave 
us  more  free  to  plant  the  Gospel  in  these  parts."  ^ 

1  For  the  original,  see  ante,  note  3,  p.  137- 


140  .MASSACRE  OF   THE  HERETICS.  [1565. 

Again  Menendez  returned  triumphant  to  St. 
Augustine,  and  behind  him  marched  his  band  of 
butchers,  steeped  in  blood  to  the  elbows,  but  still 
unsated.  Great  as  had  been  his  success,  he  still 
had  cause  for  anxiety.  There  was  ill  news  of  his 
fleet.  Some  of  the  ships  were  lost,  others  scat- 
tered, or  lagging  tardily  on  their  way.  Of  his 
whole  force,  less  than  a  half  had  reached  Florida, 
and  of  these  a  large  part  were  still  at  Fort  Caro- 
line. Ribaut  could  not  be  far  off ;  and,  whatever 
might  be  the  condition  of  his  shipwrecked  com- 
pany, their  numbers  would  make  then;i  formidable, 
unless  taken  at  advantage.  Urged  by  fear  and 
fortified  by  fanaticism,  Menendez  had  well  begun 
his  work  of  slaughter ;  but  rest  for  him  there  was 
none  ;  a  darker  deed  was  behind. 

On  the  tenth  of  October,  Indians  came  with  the 
tidings  that,  at  the  spot  where  the  first  party  of 
the  shipwrecked  French  had  been  found,  there 
was  now  another  party  still  larger.  This  murder- 
loving  race  looked  with  great  respect  on  Menendez 
for  his  wholesale  butchery  of  the  night  before,  — 
an  exploit  rarely  equalled  in  their  own  annals  of 
massacre.  On  his  part,  he  doubted  not  that  Ribaut 
was  at  hand.  Marching  with  a  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  he  crossed  the  bush-covered  sands  of  Anas- 
tasia  Island,  followed  the  strand  between  the 
thickets  and  the  sea,  reached  the  inlet  at  mid- 
night, and  again,  like  a  savage,  ambushed  himself 
on  the  bank.  Day  broke,  and  he  could  plainly  see 
the  French  on  the  farther  side.  They  had  made 
a  raft,  which  lay  in  the  water  ready  for  crossing. 


1565.]  RIBAUT  MEETS  MENENDEZ.  141 

Menendez  and  his  men  showed  themselves,  when, 
forthwith,  the  French  displayed  their  banners, 
sounded  drums  and  trumpets,  and  set  their  sick 
and  starving  ranks  in  array  of  battle.  But  the 
Adelantado,  regardless  of  this  warlike  show,  or- 
dered his  men  to  seat  themselves  at  breakfast, 
while  he  with  three  officers  walked  unconcernedly 
along  the  shore.  His  coolness  had  its  effect.  The 
French  blew  a  trumpet  of  parley,  and  showed  a 
white  flag.  The  Spaniards  replied.  A  French- 
man came  out  upon  the  raft,  and,  shouting  across 
the  water,  asked  that  a  Spanish  envoy  should  be 
sent  over. 

"  You  have  a  raft,"  was  the  reply ;  "  come  your- 
selves." 

An  Indian  canoe  lay  under  the  bank  on  the 
Spanish  side.  A  French  sailor  swam  to  it,  pad- 
dled back  unmolested,  and  presently  returned, 
bringing  with  him  La  Caille,  Ribaut's  sergeant- 
major.  He  told  Menendez  that  the  French  were 
three  hundred  and  fifty  in  all,  and  were  on  their 
way  to  Fort  Caroline ;  and,  like  the  officers  of  the 
former  party,  he  begged  for  boats  to  aid  them  in 
crossing  the  river. 

"  My  brother,"  said  Menendez,  "  go  and  tell  your 
general,  that,  if  he  wishes  to  speak  with  me,  he 
may  come  with  four  or  six  companions,  and  that 
I  pledge  my  word  he  shall  go  back  safe."  ^ 

La  Caille  returned  ;  and  Ribaut,  with  eight  gen- 
tlemen, soon  came  over  in  the  canoe.  Menendez 
met  them  courteously,  caused  wine  and  preserved 

1  SoKs,  88. 


142  MASSACRE  OF  THE  HERETICS.  [1565. 

fruits  to  be  placed  before  tliem,  —  he  had  come 
well  provisioned  on  his  errand  of  blood,  —  and 
next  led  Ribaut  to  the  reeking  Golgotha,  where, 
in  heaps  upon  the  sand,  lay  the  corpses  of  his 
slaughtered  followers.  Ribaut  was  prepared  for 
the  spectacle ;  La  Caille  had  already  seen  it ;  but 
he  would  not  believe  that  Fort  Caroline  was  taken 
till  a  part  of  the  plunder  was  shown  him.  Then, 
mastering  his  despair,  he  turned  to  the  conqueror. 
'•What  has  befallen  us,"  he  said,  "may  one  day 
befall  you."  And,  urging  that  the  kings  of  France 
and  Spain  were  brothers  and  close  friends,  he 
begged,  in  the  name  of  that  friendship,  that  the 
Spaniard  would  aid  him  in  conveying  his  followers 
home.  Menendez  gave  him  the  same  equivocal 
answer  that  he  had  given  the  former  party,  and 
Ribaut  returned  to  consult  with  his  officers.  After 
three  hours  of  absence,  he  came  back  in  the  canoe, 
and  told  the  Adelantado  that  some  of  his  people 
were  ready  to  surrender  at  discretion,  but  that 
many  refused. 

"  They  can  do  as  they  please,"  was  the  reply. 

In  behalf  of  those  who  surrendered  Ribaut  offered 
a  ransom  of  a  hundred  thousand  ducats. 

"  It  would  much  grieve  me,"  said  Menendez, 
"  not  to  accept  it ;  for  I  have  great  need  of  it." 

Ribaut  was  much  encouraged.  Menendez  could 
scarcely  forego  such  a  prize,  and  he  thought,  says 
the  Spanish  narrator,  that  the  lives  of  his  follow- 
ers would  now  be  safe.  He  asked  to  be  allowed 
the  nigrht  for  deliberation,  and  at  sunset  recrossed 
the  river.     In  the  morning  he  reappeared  among 


1565,]  ANOTHER  BUTCHERY.  143 

the  Spaniards,  and  reported  that  two  hundred  of 
his  men  had  retreated  from  the  spot,  but  that  the 
remaining  hundred  and  fifty  would  surrender.^ 
At  the  same  time  he  gave  into  the  hands  of  Me- 
nendez  the  royal  standard  and  other  flags,  with 
his  sword,  dagger,  helmet,  buckler,  and  the  official 
seal  given  him  by  Coligny.  Menendez  directed  an 
officer  to  enter  the  boat  and  bring  over  the  French 
by  tens.  He  next  led  Ribaut  among  the  bushes 
behind  the  neighboring  sand-hill,  and  ordered  his 
hands  to  be  bound  fast.  Then  the  scales  fell  from 
the  prisoner's  eyes.  Face  to  face  his  fate  rose  up 
before  him.  He  saw  his  followers  and  himself  en- 
trapped, —  the  dupes  of  words  artfully  framed  to 
lure  them  to  their  ruin.  The  day  wore  on ;  and^, 
as  band  after  band  of  prisoners  was  brought  over, 
they  were  led  behind  the  sand-hill  out  of  sight 
from  the  farther  shore,  and  bound  like  tlieir  gen- 
eral. At  length  the  transit  was  finished.  "  With 
bloodshot  eyes  and  weapons  bared,  the  Spaniards 
closed  around  their  victims. 

"  Are  you  Catholics  or  Lutherans  ?  and  is  there 
any  one  among  you  who  will  go  to  confession  ?  " 

Ribaut  answered,  "  I  and  all  here  are  of  the 
Reformed  Faith." 

And  he  recited  the  Psalm,  "  Domine,  memento 
met.    ^ 

"  We  are  of  earth,"  he  continued,  "  and  to  earth 
we  must  return ;  twenty  years  more  or  less  can 

^  SoKs,  89.     Menendez  speaks  only  of  seventy. 

2  "L'auteur  a  voiilu  dire  apparemment,  Memento  Domine  David.  D'ail- 
leurs  Ribant  la  re'cita  sans  doute  en  Fran9ais.,  a  la  raaniere  des  Prote 
stans."     Hist.  Gen.  des  Voyages,  XIV.  446. 


144  MASSACRE   OF  THE   HERETICS.  [1565 

matter  little  ; "  ^  and,  turning  to  the  Adelantado, 
he  bade  him  do  his  will. 

The  stony-hearted  bigot  gave  the  signal ;  and 
those  who  will  may  paint  to  themselves  the  horrors 
of  the  scene. 

A  few,  however,  were  spared.  "  I  saved,"  writes 
Menendez,  "  the  lives  of  two  young  gentlemen  of 
about  eighteen  years  of  age,  as  well  as  of  three 
others,  the  fifer,  the  drummer,  and  the  trumpeter ; 
and  I  caused  Juan  Ribao  [Ribaut]  with  all  the 
rest  to  be  put  to  the  knife,  judging  this  to  be  ne- 
cessary for  the  service  of  God  our  Lord  and  of 
your  Majesty.  And  I  consider  it  great  good  for- 
tune that  he  [Juan  Ribao]  should  be  dead,  for  the 
King  of  France  could  effect  more  with  him  and 
five  hundred  ducats  than  with  other  men  and  five 
thousand,  and  he  would  do  more  in  one  year  than 
another  in  ten,  for  he  was  the  most  experienced 
sailor  and  naval  commander  known,  and  of  great 
skill  in  this  navigation  of  the  Indies  and  the  coast 
of  Florida.  He  was,  besides,  greatly  liked  in 
England,  in  which  kingdom  his  reputation  was 
such  that  he  was  appointed  Captain-General  of  all 
the  English  fleet  against  the  French  Catholics  in 
the  war  between  England  and  France  some  years 

"  2 

ago.    ^ 

1  "Dijo;  que  de  Tierra  eran,  y  que  en  Tierra  se  avian  de  bolver;  "k 
veinte  Anos  mas,  6  nieuos,  todo  era  una  Cuenta."     Soli's,  89. 

2  "  Salve  la  vida  a  dos  niozos  Cal)alleros  de  hasta  18  anos,  y  a  otros  tres, 
que  eran  Pifano,  Atambor  y  Trompeta,  y  a  Juan  Rivao  con  todos  los  demas 
hice  pasar  a  cuchillo,  entendiendo  que  ausi  couveuia  al  servicio  de  Dios 
Nuestro  Senor,  y  de  V.  Mag.  y  teugo  por  muy  principal  suerte  que  este 
sea  muerto,  porque  mas  hiciera  el  Rey  de  Francia  con  el  con  500  ducados, 
que  con  otros  con  5000,  y  mas  hiciera  el  en  uu  ano  que  otro  en  diez,  porque 


1563.]  FRENCH  ACCOUNTS.  145 

Such  is  the  sum  of  the  Spanish  accounts,  — the 
self-damning  testimony  of  the  author  and  abettors 
of  the  crime;  a  picture  of  lurid  and  awful  color- 
ing ;  and  yet  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
truth  was  darker  still.  Among  those  who  were 
spared  was  one  Christophe  le  Breton,  who  was 
carried  to  Spain,  escaped  to  France,  and  told  his 
story  to  Challeux.  Among  those  struck  down  in 
the  butchery  was  a  sailor  of  Dieppe,  stunned  and 
left  for  dead  under  a  heap  of  corpses.  In  the 
night  he  revived,  contrived  to  draw  his  knife,  cut 
the  cords  that  bound  his  hands,  and  made  his  way 
to  an  Indian  village.  The  Indians,  not  without 
reluctance,  abandoned  him  to  the  Spaniards,  who 
sold  him  as  a  slave  ;  but,  on  his  way  in  fetters  to 
Portugal,  the  ship  was  taken  by  the  Huguenots, 
the  sailor  set  free,  and  his  story  published  in  the 
narrative  of  Le  Moyne.  When  the  massacre  was 
known  in  France,  the  friends  and  relatives  of  the 
victims  sent  to  the  King,  Charles  the  Ninth,  a 
vehement  petition  for  redress ;  and  their  memorial 
recounts  many  incidents  of  the  tragedy.  From 
these  three  sources  is  to  be  drawn  the  French 
version  of  the  story.  The  following  is  its  sub- 
stance. 

Famished  and  desperate,  the  followers  of  Ribaut 
were  toilinoj  northward  to    seek   refu2:e   at   Fort 

era  el  mas  pratico  marinero  y  cosario  que  se  sabia,  j  muy  diestro  en  esta 
Navigacion  de  Indias  y  costa  de  la  Florida,  y  tan  amigo  en  Inglaterra  que 
tenia  en  aquel  Reyno  tanta  reputacion  que  fue  nombrado  por  Capitan  Gene- 
ral de  toda  el  Armada  Inglesa  contra  los  Catolicos  de  Francia  estos  anos 
pasados  babiendo  guerra  entre  Inglaterra  y  Francia."  Carta  de  Pedro 
Menendez  a  su  Mat/estad,  Fuerte  de  S"  Agustin,  15  de  Octuhre,  1565. 

10 


146  MASSACRE  OF  THE   HERETICS.  [1565. 

Caroline,  wlien  they  found  the  Spaniards  in  their 
path.  Some  were  filled  with,  dismay ;  others,  in 
their  misery,  almost  hailed  them  as  deliverers. 
La  Caille,  the  sergeant-major,  crossed  the  river. 
Menendez  met  him  with  a  face  of  friendship,  and 
protested  that  he  would  spare  the  lives  of  the 
shipwrecked  men,  sealing  the  promise  with  an 
oath,  a  kiss,  and  many  signs  of  the  cross.  He 
even  gave  it  in  writing,  under  seal.  Still,  there 
were  many  among  the  French  who  would  not 
place  themselves  in  his  power.  The  most  credu- 
lous crossed  the  river  in  a  boat.  As  each  succes- 
sive party  landed,  their  hands  were  bound  fast  at 
their  backs  ;  and  thus,  except  a  few  who  were 
set  apart,  they  were  all  driven  towards  the  fort, 
like  cattle  to  the  shambles,  with  curses  and  scurri- 
lous abuse.  Then,  at  sound  of  drums  and  trum- 
pets, the  Spaniards  fell  upon  them,  striking  them 
down  with  swords,  pikes,  and  halberds.^  Ribaut 
vainly  called  on  the  Adelantado  to  remember  his 
oath.  By  his  order,  a  soldier  plunged  a  dagger 
into  the  French  commander's  heart ;  and  Ottigny, 
who    stood   near,    met   a   similar   fate.      Ribaut's 

1  Here  the  French  accounts  differ.  Le  Moyne  says  that  only  a  drum- 
mer and  a  fifer  were  spared ;  Challeux,  that  carpenters,  artillerymen,  and 
others  who  might  be  of  use,  were  also  saved,  —  thirty  in  all.  Le  Moyne 
speaks  of  the  massacre  as  taking  place,  not  at  St.  Augustine,  but  at 
Fort  Caroline,  a  blunder  into  which,  under  the  circumstances,  he  might 
naturally  fall. 

"  .  .  .  .  ainsi  com  me  on  feroit  vn  trouppeau  de  bestes  lequel  on  chasse- 
roita  la  boucherie,  lors  a  son  de  phiffres,  tabourinset  trompes,  la  hardiesse 
de  ces  furieux  Espagnols  se  desbende  sur  ces  poures  Francois  lesquels 
estoyent  liez  et  garottez :  Ik  c'estoit  k  qui  donneroit  le  plus  beau  cousp 
de  picqae,  de  hallebarde  et  d'espe'e,"  etc.  Challeux,  from  Christophe 
le  Breton. 


1565.]  FRENCH  ACCOUNTS.  147 

beard  was  cut  off,  and  portions  of  it  sent  in  a 
letter  to  Philip  the  Second.  His  head  was  hewn 
into  four  parts,  one  of  which  was  displayed  on  the 
point  of  a  lance  at  each  corner  of  Fort  St.  Augus- 
tine. Great  fires  were  kindled,  and  the  bodies  of 
the  murdered  burned  to  ashes. ^ 

Such  is  the  sum  of  the  French  accounts.  The 
charge  of  breach  of  faith  contained  in  them  was 
believed  by  Catholics  as  well  as  Protestants,  and 
it  was  as  a  defence  against  this  charge  that  the 
narrative  of  the  Adelantado's  brother-in-law  was 
published.  That  Ribaut,  a  man  whose  good  sense 
and  courage  were  both  reputed  high,  should  have 
submitted  himself  and  his  men  to  Menendez  with- 
out positive  assurance  of  safety,  is  scarcely  credi- 
ble ;  nor  is  it  lack  of  charity  to  believe  that  a 
bigot  so  savage  in  heart  and  so  perverted  in  con- 
science would  act  on  the  maxim,  current  among 
certain  casuists  of  the  day,  that  faith  ought  not  to 
be  kept  with  heretics. 

It  was  night  when  the  Adelantado  again  en- 
tered St.  Augustine.  There  were  some  who 
blamed  his  cruelty ;  but  many  applauded.     "  Even 

1  Une  Requite  au  Roy,  faite  en  forme  de  Complainte  par  les  Femmes 
veufves,  petits  Enfans  orphelins,  et  mitres  lews  Amis,  Parents  et  Alliez  de 
ceux  qrii  ont  ete  crueUement  envahis  par  les  Espar/nols  en  la  France  Antliarc- 
tique  dite  la  Florlde.  This  is  the  petition  to  Charles  the  Ninth.  There 
are  Latin  translations  in  De  Bry  and  Chauveton.  Christophe  le  Breton 
told  Challeux  the  same  story  of  the  outrages  on  Eibaut's  body.  The 
Requete  au  Roi/  affirms  that  the  total  number  of  French  killed  by  the 
Spaniards  in  Florida  in  1565  was  more  than  nine  hundred.  This  is  no 
doubt  a  gross  exaggeration. 

Pre'vost,  a  contemporary,  Lescarbot,  and  others,  affirm  that  Ribaut's 
body  was  flayed,  and  the  skin  sent  to  Spain  as  a  trophy.  This  is  denied 
by  Barcia. 


148  MASSACRE  OF  THE  HERETICS.  [1565. 

if  the  French  had  been  Catholics,"  —  such  was 
their  language,  —  "  he  would  have  done  right, 
for,  with  the  little  provision  we  have,  they  would 
all  have  starved  ;  besides,  there  were  so  many  of 
them  that  they  would  have  cut  our  throats." 

And  now  Menendez  again  addressed  himself  to 
the  despatch,  already  begun,  in  which  he  recounts 
to  the  King  his  labors  and  his  triumphs,  a  delib- 
erate and  business-like  document,  mingling  nar- 
ratives of  butchery  with  recommendations  for 
promotions,  commissary  details,  and  petitions  for 
supplies ;  enlarging,  too,  on  the  vast  schemes  of 
encroachment  which  his  successful  generalship  had 
brought  to  naught.  The  French,  he  says,  had 
planned  a  military  and  naval  depot  at  Los  Mar- 
tires,  whence  they  would  make  a  descent  upon 
Havana,  and  another  at  the  Bay  of  Ponce  de  Leon, 
whence  they  could  threaten  Vera  Cruz.  They  had 
long  been  encroacliing  on  Spanish  rights  at  New- 
foundland, from  which  a  great  arm  of  the  sea  — 
doubtless  meaning  the  St.  Lawrence  —  would  give 
them  access  to  the  Moluccas  and  other  parts  of  the 
East  Indies.  He  adds,  in  a  later  despatch,  that  by 
this  passage  they  may  reach  the  mines  of  Zacate- 
cas  and  St.  Martin,  as  well  as  every  part  of  the 
South  Sea.  And,  as  already  mentioned,  he  urges 
immediate  occupation  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  which, 
by  its  supposed  water  communication  with  the  St. 
Lawrence,  w^ould  enable  Spain  to  vindicate  her 
rights,  control  the  fisheries  of  Newfoundland,  and 
thwart  her  rival  in  vast  designs  of  commercial 
and  territorial  aggrandizement.     Thus  did  France 


1565.]  FUGITIVE  FRENCH.  149 

and  Spain  dispute  tlie  possession  of  North  America 
long  before  England  became  a  party  to  the  strife.^ 

Some  twenty  days  after  Menendez  returned  to 
St.  Augustine,  the  Indians,  enamored  of  carnage, 
and  exulting  to  see  their  invaders  mowed  down, 
came  to  tell  him  that  on  the  coast  southward,  near 
Cape  Canaveral,  a  great  number  of  Frenchmen 
were  intrenching  themselves.  They  were  those 
of  Ribaut's  party  who  had  refused  to  surrender. 
Having  retreated  to  the  spot  where  their  ships 
had  been  cast  ashore,  they  were  trying  to  build 
a  vessel  from  the  fragments  of  the  wrecks. 

In  all  haste  Menendez  despatched  messengers  to 
Fort  Caroline,  —  named  by  him  San  Mateo,  — 
ordering  a  reinforcement  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 
men.  In  a  few  days  they  came.  He  added  some 
of  his  own  soldiers,  and,  with  a  united  force  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty,  set  out,  as  he  tells  us,  on 
the  second  of  November.  A  part  of  his  force  went 
by  sea,  while  the  rest  pushed  southward  along  the 
shore  with  such  merciless  energy  that  several  men 
dropped  dead  with  wading  night  and  day  through 
the  loose  sands.  When,  from  behind  their  frail 
defences,  the  French  saw  the  Spanish  pikes  and 
partisans  glittering  into  view,  they  fled  in  a  panic, 

1  Amid  all  the  confusion  of  his  geographical  statements,  it  seems  clear 
that  Menendez  believed  that  Chesapeake  Bay  communicated  witli  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  thence  with  Newfoundland  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  South 
Sea  on  the  other.  The  notion  that  the  St.  Lawrence  would  give  access 
to  China  survived  till  the  time  of  La  Salle,  or  more  than  a  century.  Li 
the  map  of  Gastaldi,  made,  according  to  Kohl,  about  1550,  a  belt  of  water 
connecting  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Atlantic  is  laid  down.  So  also  in 
the  map  of  Ruscelli,  1561,  and  that  of  Martines,  1578,  as  well  as  in  that 
of  Michael  Lok,  1582.  In  Munster's  map,  1545,  the  St.  Lawrence  is 
rudely  indicated,  with  the  words,  "  Per  hoc  fretu  iter  ad  Molucas." 


150  MASSACRE   OF   THE   HERETICS.  [1565. 

and  took  refuge  among  the  hills.  Menendez  sent 
a  trumpet  to  summon  them,  pledging  his  honor 
for  their  safety.  The  commander  and  several 
others  told  the  messenger  that  they  would  sooner 
be  eaten  by  the  savages  than  trust  themselves  to 
Spaniards ;  and,  escaping,  they  fled  to  the  Indian 
towns.  The  rest  surrendered ;  and  Menendez 
kept  his  word.  The  comparative  number  of  his 
own  men  made  his  prisoners  no  longer  dangerous. 
They  were  led  back  to  St.  Augustine,  where,  as 
the  Spanish  writer  affirms,  they  were  well  treated. 
Those  of  good  birth  sat  at  the  Adelantado's  table, 
eating  the  bread  of  a  homicide  crimsoned  with  the 
slaughter  of  their  comrades.  The  priests  essayed 
their  pious  efforts,  and,  under  the  gloomy  menace 
of  the  Inquisition,  some  of  the  heretics  renounced 
their  errors.  The  fate  of  the  captives  may  be 
gathered  from  the  indorsement,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  the  King,  on  one  of  the  despatches  of 
Menendez. 

"  Say  to  him,"  writes  Philip  the  Second,  "  that, 
as  to  those  he  has 'killed,  he  has  done  well ;  and  as 
to  those  he  has  saved,  they  shall  be  sent  to  the 
galleys."  ^ 

^  There  is  an  indorsement  to  this  effect  on  the  despatch  of  Menendez 
of  12  December,  1565.  A  marginal  note  by  the  copyist  states  that  it  is  in 
the  well-known  handwriting  of  Philip  the  Second,  Compare  the  King's 
letter  to  Menendez,  in  Barcia,  116.  This  letter  seems  to  have  been 
•\Titteu  by  a  secretary  in  pursuance  of  a  direction  contained  in  the 
indorsement,  — "  Esto  sera  bien  escribir  luego  a  Pero  Menendez," —  and 
highly  commends  him  for  the  "  justice  he  has  done  upon  the  Lutheran 


CHAPTER  IX. 
1565-1567. 

CHARLES   IX.   AND  PHILIP  II. 

State  of  International  Relations.  —  Complaints  of  Philip  the 
Second. —  Reply  of  Charles  the  Ninth.  —  News  of  the  Mas- 
sacre.—  The  French  Court  demands  Redress. — The  Spanish 
Court  refuses  it. 

The  state  of  international  relations  in  the  six- 
teenth century  is  hardly  conceivable  at  this  day. 
The  Puritans  of  England  and  the  Huguenots  of 
France  regarded  Spain  as  their  natural  enemy, 
and  on  the  high  seas  and  in  the  British  Channel 
they  joined  hands  with  godless  freebooters  to  rifle 
her  ships,  kill  her  sailors,  or  throw  them  alive 
into  the  sea.  Spain  on  her  side  seized  English 
Protestant  sailors  who  ventured  into  her  ports,  and 
burned  them  as  heretics,  or  consigned  them  to  a 
living  death  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition. 
Yet  in  the  latter  half  of  the  century  these  mu- 
tual outrages  went  on  for  years  while  the  nations 
professed  to  be  at  peace.  There  was  complaint, 
protest,  and  occasional  menace,  but  no  redress, 
and  no  declaration  of  war. 

Contemporary  writers  of  good  authority  have 
said  that,  when  the  news  of  the  massacres  in 
Florida  reached  the  court  of  France,  Charles  the 
Ninth  and  Catherine  de  Medicis  submitted  to  the 


152  CHARLES   IX.   AND  PHILIP  IL  [1566. 

insult  in  silence  ;  but  documents  lately  brought  to 
light  show  that  a  demand  for  redress  was  made, 
though  not  insisted  on.  A  cry  of  horror  and  exe- 
cration had  risen  from  the  Huguenots,  and  many 
even  of  the  Catholics  had  echoed  it ;  yet  the  per- 
petrators of  the  crime,  and  not  its  victims,  were 
the  first  to  make  complaint.  Philip  the  Second  re- 
sented the  expeditions  of  Ribaut  and  Laudonniere 
as  an  invasion  of '  the  American  domains  of  Spain, 
and  ordered  D'Alava,  his  ambassador  at  Paris,  to 
denounce  them  to  the  French  King.  Charles,  thus 
put  on  the  defensive,  replied,  that  the  country  in 
question  belonged  to  France,  having  been  discov- 
ered by  Frenchmen  a  hundred  years  before,  and 
named  by  them  Terre  des  Bretons.^  This  alludes 
to  the  tradition  that  the  Bretons  and  Basques 
visited  the  northern  coasts  of  America  before  the 
voyage  of  Columbus.  In  several  maps  of  the  six- 
teenth century  the  region  of  New  England  and 
the  neighboring  states  and  provinces  is  set  down 
as  Terre  des  Bretons,  or  Tierra  de  los  Bretones,''^ 
and  this  name  was  assumed  by  Charles  to  ex- 
tend to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  the  name  of  Florida 
was  assumed  by  the  Spaniards  to  extend  to  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  even  beyond  it.^    Philip 

1  N^ote  de  Charles  IX.  en  reponse  a  celle  de  VAmbassadeur  d'Espagne,  in 
Gaffarel,  F/onc/e,  413. 

2  See,  for  example,  the  map  of  Ruscelli,  1561. 

^  "  II  y  a  plus  de  cent  ans  a  este'  ledict  pais  appelle  la  terre  des  Bretons 
en  laquelle  est  comprins  I'endroit  que  les  Espaignols  s'attribuent,  lequel 
ils  out  baptize  du  nom  qu'ils  out  voulu  [Florida]."  Forqnemulx  au  Roy, 
16  Mars,  1566.     Forquevaulx  was  French  ambassador  at  Madrid. 

"  Nous  ne  pretendons  rienque  conserver  une  terre  qui  a  este  descouverte 
et  posse'dee  par  des  Francois,  comme  le  nom  de  la  terre  aux  Bretons  le 
tesmoigne  eucore."     Catherine  de  Mklicis  a  Forquevaulx,  30  Dec,  1585. 


1566.]  DEMANDS   OF   PHILIP.  153 

spurned  the  claim,  asserted  the  Spanish  right  to 
all  Florida,  and  asked  whether  or  not  the  follow- 
ers of  Ribaut  and  Laudonniere  had  gone  thither 
by  authority  of  their  King.  The  Queen  Mother, 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  replied  in  her  son's  behalf, 
that  certain  Frenchmen  had  gone  to  a  country 
called  Terre  aux  Bretons,  discovered  by  French 
subjects,  and  that  in  so  doing  they  had  been 
warned  not  to  encroach  on  lands  belono-ino;  to  the 
King  of  Spain.  And  she  added,  with  some  spirit, 
that  the  Kings  of  France  were  not  in  the  habit 
of  permitting  tliemselves  to  be  threatened.^ 

Philip  persisted  in  his  attitude  of  injured  inno- 
cence ;  and  Forqiievaulx,  French  ambassador  at 
Madrid,  reported  that,  as  a  reward  for  murder- 
ing French  subjects,  Menendez  was  to  receive  the 
title  of  Marquis  of  Florida.  A  demand  soon  fol- 
lowed from  Philip,  that  Admiral  Coligny  should  be 
punished  for  planting  a  French  colony  on  Spanish 
ground,  and  thus  causing  the  disasters  that  ensued. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  the  first  full  account  of 
the  massacres  reached  the  French  court,  and  the 
Queen  Mother,  greatly  moved,  complained  to  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  saying  that  she  could  not 
persuade  herself  that  his  master  would  refuse  rep- 
aration. The  ambassador  replied  by  again  throw- 
ing the  blame  on  Coligny  and  the  Huguenots,  and 
Catherine  de  Medicis  returned  that,  Huguenots 
or  not,  the  King  of  Spain  had  no  right  to  take 
upon  himself  the  punishment  of  French  subjects. 
Forquevaulx  was  instructed  to  demand  redress  at 

1    Catherine  de  Medicis  a  Forquevaulx,  20  Jan.,  1566. 


154  CHARLES   IX.   AND   PHILIP   IL  [1566. 

Madrid,  but  Philip  only  answered  that  he  was  very 
sorry  for  what  had  happened/  and  again  insisted 
that  Coligny  should  be  punished  as  the  true  cause 
of  it. 

Forquevaulx,  an  old  soldier,  remonstrated  with 
firmness,  declared  that  no  deed  so  execrable  had 
ever  been  committed  within  his  memory,  and  de- 
manded that  Menendez  and  his  followers  should 
be  chastised  as  they  deserved.  The  King  said  that 
he  was  sorry  that  the  sufferers  chanced  to  be 
Frenchmen,  but,  as  they  were  pirates  also,  they 
ought  to  be  treated  as  such.  The  ambassador  re- 
plied, that  they  were  no  pirates,  since  they  bore 
the  commission  of  the  Admiral  of  France,  who  in 
naval  affairs  represented  the  King ;  and  Philip 
closed  the  conversation  by  saying  that  he  would 
speak  on  the  subject  with  the  Duke  of  Alva.  This 
was  equivalent  to  refusal,  for  the  views  of  the 
Duke  were  well  known  ;  "  and  so,  Madame,"  writes 
the  ambassador  to  the  Queen  Mother,  "  there  is  no 
hope  that  any  reparation  will  be  made  for  the 
aforesaid  massacre."  ^ 

On  this,  Charles  wrote  to  Forquevaulx :  "  It 
is  my  will  that  you  renew  your  complaint,  and 
insist  urgently  that,  for  the  sake  of  the  union  and 
friendship  between  the  two  crowns,  reparation  be 
made  for  the  wrong  done  me  and  the  cruelties 
committed  on  my  subjects,  to  which  I  cannot  sub- 
mit without  too  great  loss  of  reputation."  ^     And, 

1  "  Disant  avoir  santi  grand  desplaisir  du  faict  advenu ;  voila  tout, 
Sire."     Forquevaulx  au  Roi/,  9  Avril,  1.566. 

'■^  Forquevaulx  a  Catherine  de  Medici's,  9  Avril,  1566. 
3  Charles  IX.  a  Forquevaulx,  12  Mai,  1566. 


/567.]  HUMILIATION  OF  CHARLES.  155 

jointly  with  his  mother,  he  ordered  the  ambassa- 
dor to  demand  once  more  that  Menendez  and  his 
men  should  be  punished,  adding,  that  he  trusts 
that  Philip  will  grant  justice  to  the  King  of 
France,  his  brother-in-law  and  friend,  rather  than 
pardon  a  gang  of  brigands.  "  On  this  demand," 
concludes  Charles,  ''  the  Sieur  de  Forquevaulx 
will  not  fail  to  insist,  be  the  answer  what  it  may, 
in  order  that  the  King  of  Spain  shall  understand 
that  his  Majesty  of  France  has  no  less  spirit  than 
his  predecessors  to  repel  an  insult."  ^  The  am- 
bassador fulfilled  his  commission,  and  Philip  re- 
plied by  referring  him  to  the  Duke  of  Alva.  "  I 
have  no  hope,"  reports  Forquevaulx,  ''  that  the 
Duke  will  give  any  satisfaction  as  to  the  massacre, 
for  it  was  he  who  advised  it  from  the  first."  ^  A 
year  passed,  and  then  he  reported  that  Menendez 
had  returned  from  Florida,  that  the  King  had 
given  him  a  warm  welcome,  and  that  his  fame  as 
a  naval  commander  was  such  that  he  was  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  Neptune.^ 

In  spite  of  their  brave  words,  Charles  and  the 
Queen  Mother  tamely  resigned  themselves  to  the 
affront,  for  they  would  not  quarrel  with  Spain. 
To  have  done  so  would  have  been  to  throw  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  the  Protestant  party,  adopt 
the  principle  of  toleration,  and  save  France  from 
the  disgrace  and  blight  of  her  later  years.  France 
was  not  so  fortunate.     The  enterprise  of  Florida 

^  Memoire  envoi/e  par  Charles  IX.  et  Catherine  de  Medicis  a  Forque- 
vaulx, 12  ^fni,  1566. 

2  Forquevaulx  au  Roi/,  Aout  (?),  1566. 

3  Forquevaulx  au  Roy,  Juillet,  1567.     Ibid.,  2  Aout,  1567. 


156  CHARLES  IX.   AND  PHILIP  IL  [1567 

was  a  national  enterprise,  undertaken  at  the  na- 
tional charge^,  with  the  royal  commission,  and 
under  the  royal  standard ;  and  it  had  l^een  crushed 
in  time  of  peace  by  a  power  professing  the  closest 
friendship.  Yet  Huguenot  influence  had  prompted 
and  Huguenot  hands  executed  it.  That  influence 
had  now  ebbed  low  ;  Coligny's  power  had  waned  ; 
Charles,  after  long  vacillation,  was  leaning  more 
and  more  towards  the  Guises  and  the  Catholics, 
and  fast  subsiding  into  the  deathly  embrace  of 
Spain,  for  whom,  at  last,  on  the  bloody  eve  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  he  was  to  become  the  assassin 
of  his  own  best  subjects.^ 

In  vain  the  relatives  of  the  slain  petitioned  him 
for  redress ;  and  had  the  honor  of  the  nation 
rested  in  the  keeping  of  its  King,  the  blood  of 
hundreds  of  murdered  Frenchmen  would  have 
cried  from  the  ground  in  vain.  But  it  was  not 
to  be  so.  Injured  humanity  found  an  avenger, 
and  outraged  France  a  champion.  Her  chivalrous 
annals  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  a  deed  of  more 
romantic  daring  than  the  vengeance  of  Dominique 
de  Gourgues. 

1  Lettres  et  Papiers  d'Estat  dti  Sieiir  de  Forquevaulx,  Ambassadeur  du 
Roij  tres-Chrestien  Charles  Neufviesme,  printed  by  Gaffarel  in  his  Histoire 
de  la  Floride  Frangaise. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1567-1583. 

DOMINIQUE  DE  GOUEGUES. 

His  Eablt  Life.  —  His  Hatred  of  Spaniards.  —  Eesolves  ON  Ven- 
geance.—  His  Band  of  Adventurers.  —  His  Plan  divulged. — 
His  Speech.  —  Enthusiasm  of  his  Followers.  —  Condition  of 
the  Spaniards.  —  Arrival  of  Gourgues.  —  Interviews  with 
Indians.  —  The  Spaniards  attacked.  —  The  First  Fort  car- 
ried.—  Another  Victory. —  The  Final  Triumph. —  The  Prison- 
ers hanged.  —  The  Forts  destroyed.  —  Sequel  of  Gourgues's 
Career. —  Menendez.  —  His  Death. 

There  was  a  gentleman  of  Mont-de-Marsan, 
Dominique  de  Gonrgues,  a  soldier  of  ancient  birth 
and  high  renown.  It  is  not  certain  that  he  was 
a  Huguenot.  The  Spanish  annalist  calls  him  a 
"terrible  heretic"  ;^  but  the  French  Jesuit,  Charle- 
voix, anxious  that  the  faithful  should  share  the 
glory  of  his  exploits,  affirms  that,  like  hi-s  ances- 
tors before  him,  he  was  a  good  Catholic.^  If  so, 
his  faith  sat  lightly  upon  him ;  and.  Catholic  or 
heretic,  he  hated  the  Spaniards  with  a  mortal  hate. 
Fighting  in  the  Italian  wars,  —  for  from  boyhood 
he  was  wedded  to  the  sword,  —  he  had  been  taken 
prisoner  by  them  near  Siena,  where  he  had  sig- 

1  Barcia,  133. 

-  Charlevoix,  Nouvelle  France,  I.  95.  Compare  Guerin,  Navigateurs 
Francois,  200.  One  of  De  Gourgues's  descendants,  the  Vicomte  A.  de 
Gourgues,  has  recently  (1861)  written  an  article  to  prove  the  Catholicity 
of  his  ancestor. 


158  DOMINIQUE  DE  GOURGUES.  [1567 

nalized  himself  by  a  fiery  and  determined  bravery. 
With  brutal  insult,  they  chained  him  to  the  oar  as 
a  galley  slave. ^  After  he  had  long  endured  this 
ignominy,  the  Turks  captured  the  vessel  and  car- 
ried her  to  Constantinople.  It  was  but  a  change 
of  tyrants ;  but,  soon  after,  while  she  was  on  a 
cruise,  Gourgues  still  at  the  oar,  a  galley  of  the 
knights  of  Malta  hove  in  sight,  bore  down  on  her, 
recaptured  her,  and  set  the  prisoner  free.  For 
several  years  after,  his  restless  spirit  found  em- 
ployment in  voyages  to  Africa,  Brazil,  and  regions 
yet  more  remote.  His  naval  repute  rose  high, 
but  his  grudge  against  the  Spaniards  still  rankled 
within  him  ;  and  when,  returned  from  his  rov- 
ings,  he  learned  the  tidings  from  Florida,  his  hot 
Gascon  blood  boiled  with  fury. 

The  honor  of  France  had  been  foully  stained, 
and  there  was  none  to  wipe  away  the  shame.  The 
faction-ridden  King  was  dumb.  The  nobles  who 
surrounded  him  were  in  the  Spanish  interest.^ 
Then,  since  they  proved  recreant,  he,  Dominique 
de  Gourgues,  a  simple  gentleman,  would  take 
upon  him  to  avenge  the  wrong,  and  restore  the 
dimmed  lustre  of  the  French  name.^  He  sold  his 
inheritance,   borrowed   money   from   his   brother. 


1  Lescarbot,  NouvelJe  France,  I.  141  ;  Barcia,  133. 

2  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Due  de  Montpensier  was  heard  to  say, 
that,  if  his  heart  was  opened,  the  name  of  Philip  would  be  fouud  written 
in  it.     Ranke,  Civil  Wars,  I.  337. 

3  "  El,  encendido  en  el  Celo  de  la  Honra  de  su  Patria,  avia  determinado 
gastar  su  Hacienda  en  aquella  Empresa,  de  que  no  esperaba  mas  fruto, 
que  vengfirse,  para  eterni9ar  su  Fama."  Barcia,  134.  This  is  the  state- 
ment of  an  enemy.  A  contemporary  manuscript  preserved  in  the  Gourgues 
family  makes  a  similar  statement. 


1567.]  HIS  EXPEDITION.  159 

who  held  a  high  post  in  Guienne,^  and  equipped 
three  small  vessels,  navigable  by  sail  or  oar.  On 
board  he  placed  a  hundred  arquebusiers  and  eighty 
sailors,  prepared  to  fight  on  land,  if  need  were.^ 
The  noted  Blaise  de  Montluc,  then  lieutenant  for 
the  King  in  Guienne,  gave  him  a  commission  to 
make  war  on  the  negroes  of  Benin,  —  that  is,  to 
kidnap  them  as  slaves,  an  adventure  then  held 
honorable.^ 

His  true  design  was  locked  within  his  own 
breast.  He  mustered  his  followers,  —  not  a  few 
of  whom  were  of  rank  equal  to  his  own,  —  feasted 
them,  and,  on  the  twenty-second  of  August,  1-567, 
sailed  from  the  mouth  of  the  Charente.  Off  Cape 
Finisterre,  so  violent  a  storm  buffeted  his  ships 
that  his  men  clamored  to  return ;  but  Gourgues's 
spirit  prevailed.  He  bore  away  for  Africa,  and, 
landing  at  the  Rio  del  Oro,  refreshed  and  cheered 
them  as  he  best  might.  Thence  he  sailed  to  Cape 
Blanco,  where  the  jealous  Portuguese,  who  had  a 


^  "  .  .  .  era  Presidente  de  la  Generalidad  de  Guiena."  Barcia,  133. 
Compare  Mezeray,  Hist,  of  France,  701.  There  is  repeated  mention  of 
him  in  the  Memoirs  of  Montluc. 

■■2  De  Gourgues  MS.  Barcia  says  two  hundred  ;  Basanier  and  Lescar- 
bot,  a  hundred  and  fifty. 

^  De  Gourgues  MS.  This  is  a  copy,  made  in  1831,  by  the  Vicomte  de 
Gourgues,  from  the  original  preserved  in  the  Gourgues  family,  and  writ- 
ten either  by  Dominique  de  Gourgues  himself,  or  by  some  person  to  whom 
he  was  intimately  known.  It  is,  with  but  trifling  variations,  identical 
with  the  two  narratives  entitled  La  Reprinse  de  la  Floride,  preserved  in 
the  Bibliotheque  Impcriale.  One  of  these  bears  the  name  of  Robert 
Prevost,  but  whether  as  author  or  copyist  is  not  clear.  M.  Gaillard,  who 
carefully  compared  them,  has  written  a  notice  of  their  contents,  with 
remarks.  The  Prevost  narrative  has  been  printed  entire  by  Ternaux- 
Compans  in  his  collection.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Bancroft  for  the  use  of 
the  Vicomte  de  Gourgues's  copy,  and  Gaillard 's  notice. 


160  DOMINIQUE  DE   GOURGUES.  11567, 

fort  in  the  neighborhood,  set  upon  him  three  negro 
chiefs.  Gourgues  beat  them  off,  and  remained 
master  of  the  harbor ;  whence,  however,  he  soon 
voyaged  onward  to  Cape  Verd,  and,  steering  west- 
ward, made  for  the  West  Indies.  Here,  advancing 
from  island  to  island,  he  came  to  Hispaniola, 
where,  between  the  fury  of  a  hurricane  at  sea 
and  the  jealousy  of  the  Spaniards  on  shore,  he 
was  in  no  small  jeopardy ;  —  "  the  Spaniards," 
exclaims  the  indignant  journalist,  "  who  think 
that  this  New  World  was  made  for  nobody  but 
them,  and  that  no  other  living  man  has  a  right 
to  move  or  breathe  here ! "  Gourgues  landed, 
however,  obtained  the  water  of  which  he  was  in 
need,  and  steered  for  Cape  San  Antonio,  at  the 
western  end  of  Cuba.  There  he  gathered  his  fol- 
lowers about  him,  and  addressed  them  with  his 
fiery  Gascon  eloquence.  For  the  first  time,  he  told 
them  his  true  purpose,  inveighed  against  Spanish 
cruelty,  and  painted,  with  angry  rhetoric,  the 
butcheries  of  Fort  Caroline  and  St.  Augustine. 

"What  disgrace,"  he  cried,  "if  such  an  insult 
should  pass  unpunished !  What  glory  to  us  if 
we  avenge  it!  To  this  I  have  devoted  my  for- 
tune. I  relied  on  you.  I  thought  you  jealous 
enough  of  your  country's  glory  to  sacrifice  life 
itself  in  a  cause  like  this.  Was  I  deceived  ?  I 
will  show  you  the  way ;  I  will  be  always  at 
your  head ;  I  will  bear  the  brunt  of  the  danger. 
Will  you  refuse  to  follow  me  ? "  ^ 

1  The  De  Gourgues  MS.,  with  Prcvost  and  Gaillard,  g-'v3  the  speech 
in  substance.     CharJevoix  professes  to  give  a  part  iu  tho  words  of  the 


1568.]  POSITION  OF  THE   SPANIARDS.  161 

At  first  his  startled  hearers  listened  in  silence  ; 
but  soon  the  passions  of  that  adventurous  age 
rose  responsive  to  his  words.  The  combustible 
French  nature  burst  into  flame.  The  enthu- 
siasm of  the  soldiers  rose  to  such  a  pitch,  that 
Gourgues  had  much  ado  to  make  them  wait  till 
the  moon  was  full  before  tempting  the  perils  of 
the  Bahama  Channel.  His  time  came  at  length. 
The  moon  rode  high  above  the  lonely  sea,  and, 
silvered  in  its  light,  the  ships  of  the  avenger 
held   their  course. 

Meanwhile,  it  had  fared  ill  with  the  Spaniards 
in  Florida ;  the  good  will  of  the  Indians  had  van- 
ished.    The  French  had  been  obtrusive  and  vexa- 

4 

tious  guests ;  but  their  worst  trespasses  had  been 
mercy  and  tenderness  compared  to  the  daily  out- 
rage of  the  new-comers.  Friendship  had  changed 
to  aversion,  aversion  to  hatred,  and  hatred  to 
open  war.  The  forest  paths  were  beset ;  strag- 
glers were  cut  off ;  and  woe  to  the  Spaniard  who 
should  venture  after  nightfall  beyond  call  of  the 
outposts.^ 

Menendez,  however,  had  strengthened  himself 
in  his  new  conquest.  St.  Augustine  was  well  for- 
tified ;  Fort  Caroline,  now  Fort  San  Mateo,  was 
repaired ;  and  two  redoubts,  or  small  forts,  were 
thrown  up  to  guard  the  mouth  of  the  River  of 
May,  —  one  of  them  near  the  present  lighthouse 
at  Mayport,   and   the   other  across  the    river   on 

speaker  :   "  J'ai  compte  sur  vous,  je  vous  ai  cru  assez  jaloiix  de  la  gloire 
de  votre  Patrie,  pour  lui  sacrifier  jusqu'a  votre  vie  en  une  occasion  de  cette 
importance ;  me  suis-je  trompe  1  "  etc. 
1  Barcia,  100-130. 

11 


162  DOMINIQUE  DE   GOURGUES.  [1568. 

Fort  George  Island.  Thence,  on  an  afternoon  in 
early  spring,  the  Spaniards  saw  three  sail  steer- 
ing northward.  They  suspected  no  enemy,  and 
their  batteries  boomed  a  salute.  Gourgues's  ships 
replied,  then  stood  out  to  sea,  and  were  lost  in  the 
shades  of  evening. 

They  kept  their  course  all  night,  and,  as  day 
broke,  anchored  at  the  mouth  of  a  river,  the  St. 
Mary's,  or  the  Santilla,  by  their  reckoning  fifteen 
leagues  north  of  the  River  of  May.  Here,  as  it 
grew  light,  Gourgues  saw  the  borders  of  the  sea 
thronged  with  savages,  armed  and  plumed  for 
war.  They,  too,  had  mistaken  the  strangers  for 
Spaniards,  and  mustered  to  meet  their  tyrants  at 
the  landing.  But  in  the  French  ships  there  was 
a  trumpeter  who  had  been  long  in  Florida,  and 
knew  the  Indians  well.  He  went  towards  them 
in  a  boat,  with  many  gestures  of  friendship ;  and 
no  sooner  was  he  recognized,  than  the  naked 
crowd,  with  yelps  of  delight,  danced  for  joy  along 
the  sands.  Why  had  he  ever  left  them  ?  they 
asked ;  and  why  had  he  not  returned  before  ? 
The  intercourse  thus  auspiciously  begun  was  ac- 
tively kept  up.  Gourgues  told  the  principal  chief, 
—  who  was  no  other  than  Satouriona,  once  the 
ally  of  the  French,  —  that  he  had  come  to  visit 
them,  make  friendship  with  them,  and  bring  them 
presents.  At  this  last  announcement,  so  grateful 
to  Indian  ears,  the  dancing  was  renewed  with 
double  zeal.  The  next  morning  was  named  for 
a  grand  council,  and  Satouriona  sent  runners  to 
summon  all  Indians  within  call ;  while  Gourgues, 


i568.]  MEETING   WITH   INDIANS.  163 

for  safety,  brought  his  vessels  within  the  mouth 
of  the  river. 

Morning  came,  and  the  woods  were  thronged 
with  warriors.  Gourgues  and  his  soldiers  landed 
with  martial  pomp.  In  token  of  mutual  confi- 
dence, the  French  laid  aside  their  arquebuses,  and 
the  Indians  their  bows  and  arrows.  Satouriona 
came  to  meet  the  strangers,  and  seated  their  com- 
mander at  his  side,  on  a  wooden  stool,  draped 
and  cushioned  with  the  gray  Spanish  moss.  Two 
old  Indians  cleared  the  spot  of  brambles,  weeds, 
and  grass;  and,  when  their  task  was  finished, 
the  tribesmen  took  their  places,  ring  within  ring, 
standing,  sitting,  and  crouching  on  the  ground, — 
a  dusky  concourse,  plumed  in  festal  array,  waiting 
with  grave  visages  and  intent  eyes.  Gourgues 
was  about  to  speak,  when  the  chief,  who,  says  the 
narrator,  had  not  learned  French  manners,  antici- 
pated him,  and  broke  into  a  vehement  harangue, 
denouncing  the  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards. 

Since  the  French  fort  was  taken,  he  said,  the 
Indians  had  not  had  one  happy  day.  The  Span- 
iards drove  them  from  their  cabins,  stole  their 
corn,  ravished  their  wives  and  daughters,  and 
killed  their  children ;  and  all  this  they  had  en- 
dured because  they  loved  the  French.  There  was 
a  French  boy  who  had  escaped  from  the  massacre 
at  the  fort ;  they  had  found  him  in  the  woods ; 
and  though  the  Spaniards,  who  wished  to  kill 
him,  demanded  that  they  should  give  him  up, 
they  had   kept  him   for  his  friends. 

"  Look  !"  pursued  the  chief,   "  here  he  is  !  " — 


164  DOMINIQUE   DE   GOURGUES.  [1568. 

and  he  brought  forward  a  youth  of  sixteen,  named 
Pierre  Debre,  who  became  at  once  of  the  great- 
est service  to  the  French,  his  knowledge  of  the 
Indian  language  making  him  an  excellent  inter- 
jDreter.-^ 

Delighted  as  he  was  at  this  outburst  against 
the  Spaniards,  Gourgues  did  not  see  fit  to  display 
the  full  extent  of  his  satisfaction.  He  thanked  the 
Indians  for  their  good-will,  exhorted  them  to  con- 
tinue in  it,  and  pronounced  an  ill-merited  eulogy 
on  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  his  King.  As 
for  the  Spaniards,  he  said,  their  day  of  reckoning 
was  at  hand ;  and,  if  the  Indians  had  been  abused 
for  their  love  of  the  French,  the  French  would  be 
their  avengers.  Here  Satouriona  forgot  his  dig- 
nity, and  leaped  up  for  joy. 

"  What !  "  he  cried,  "  will  you  fight  the  Span- 
iards ? "  2 

"  I  came  here,"  replied  Gourgues,  "  only  to  re- 
connoitre the  country  and  make  friends  with  you, 
and  then  go  back  to  bring  more  soldiers;  but, 
when  I  hear  what  you  are  suffering  from  them,  I 
wish  to  fall  upon  them  this  very  day,  and  rescue 
you  from  their  tyranny."  All  around  the  ring  a 
clamor  of  applauding  voices  greeted  his  words. 

"  But  you  w^ill  do  your  part,"  pursued  the 
Frenchman ;  "  you  will  not  leave  us  all  the 
honor." 

1  De  Gourgues  MS. ;  Gaillard  MS  ;  Basanier,  116  ;  Barcia,  134. 

2  "...  si  les  rols  et  leurs  sujects  avoient  este  maltraictez  en  haine 
des  Fran9ois  que  aussi  seroient-ils  vengez  par  les  Fran9ois-mesmes.  Com- 
ment ?  dist  Satirona,  tressaillaut  d'aise,  vouldriez-vous  bien  faire  la  guerre 
aux  Espaignols."    De  Gourgues  MS. 


1568.]  EAGERNESS   OF    THE   INDIANS.  165 

"  We  will  go,"  replied  Satouriona,  "  and  die 
with  you,  if  need  be." 

"  Then,  if  we  fight,  we  ought  to  fight  at  once. 
How  soon  can  you  have  your  warriors  ready  to 
march  ? " 

The  chief  asked  three  days  for  preparation. 
Gourgues  cautioned  him  to  secrecy,  lest  the  Span- 
iards should  take  alarm. 

"  Never  fear,"  was  the  answer ;  "  we  hate  them 
more  than  you  do."  ^ 

Then  came  a  distribution  of  gifts,  —  knives, 
hatchets,  mirrors,  bells,  and  beads,  —  while  the 
warrior  rabble  crowded  to  receive  them,  with 
eager  faces  and  outstretched  arms.  The  distribu- 
tion over,  Gourgues  asked  the  chiefs  if  there  was 
any  other  matter  in  which  he  could  serve  them. 
On  this,  pointing  to  his  shirt,  they  expressed  a 
peculiar  admiration  for  that  garment,  and  begged 
each  to  have  one,  to  be  worn  at  feasts  and  coun- 
cils during  life,  and  in  their  graves  after  death. 
Gourgues  complied  ;  and  his  grateful  confederates 
were  soon  stalking  about  him,  fluttering  in  the 
spoils  of  his  wardrobe. 

1  The  above  is  a  condensation  from  the  original  narrative,  of  the 
style  of  Avhich  the  following  may  serve  as  an  example  :  "  Le  cappi- 
taine  Gourgne  qui  avoit  trouve'  ce  qu'il  chercheoit,  les  loue  et  remercie 
grandement,  et  pour  battre  le  fer  pendant  qu'il  estoit  chault  leur  dist : 
Voiremais  si  nous  voullons  leur  faire  la  guerre,  il  fauldroit  que  ce  fust 
incontinant.  Dans  combien  de  temps  pourriez-vous  bien  avoir  assemble 
voz  gens  prets  a  marcher  1  Dans  trois  jours  dist  Satirona,  nous  et  nos 
subjects  pourrons  nous  rendre  icy,  pour  partir  avec  vous.  Et  ce  pendant, 
(dist  le  cappitaine  Gourgue,)  vous  donnerez  bon  ordre  que  le  tout  soit 
tenu  secrect :  affin  que  les  Espaignols  n'en  puissent  sentir  le  vent.  Ne 
vous  soulciez,  dirent  les  rois,  nous  leur  voullons  plus  de  nial  que  vous," 
etc.,  etc. 


IG6  DOMINIQUE   DE   GOUKGUES.  [1568. 

To  learn  the  strength  and  position  of  the  Sj)an- 
iards,  Gourgues  now  sent  out  three  scouts ;  and 
with  them  went  Olotoraca,  Satouriona's  nephew,  a 
young  brave  of  great  renown. 

The  chief,  eager  to  prove  his  good  faith,  gave 
as  hostages  liis  only  surviving  son  and  his  favorite 
wife.  They  were  sent  on  board  the  ships,  while 
the  Indians  dispersed  to  their  encampments,  with 
leaping,  stamping,  dancing,  and  whoops  of  jubi- 
lation. 

The  day  appointed  came,  and  with  it  the  savage 
army,  hideous  in  war-pahit,  and  plumed  for  battle. 
The  woods  rang  back  their  songs  and  yells,  as 
with  frantic  gesticulation  they  brandished  their 
war-clubs  and  vaunted  their  deeds  of  prowess. 
Then  they  drank  the  black  drink,  endowed  with 
mystic  virtues  against  hardship  and  danger ;  and 
Gourgues  himself  pretended  to  swallow  the  nau- 
seous decoction.^ 

These  ceremonies  consumed  the  day.  It  was 
evening  before  the  allies  filed  off  into  their  forests, 
and  took  the  path  for  the  Spanish  forts.  The 
French,  on  their  part,  were  to  repair  by  sea  to  the 
rendezvous.    Gourgues  mustered  and  addressed  his 


1  The  "  black  drink "  was,  till  a  recent  period,  in  use  among  the 
Creeks.  It  is  a  strong  decoction  of  the  plant  popularly  called  cassina,  or 
uupon  tea.  Major  Swan,  deputy  agent  for  the  Creeks  in  1791,  thus  de- 
scribes their  belief  in  its  properties :  "  that  it  purifies  them  from  all  sin, 
and  leaves  them  in  a  state  of  j)erfect  innocence;  that  it  inspires  them  with 
an  invincible  prowess  in  war ;  and  that  it  is  the  only  solid  cement  of 
friendship,  benevolence,  and  hospitality."  Swan's  account  of  their  mode 
of  drinking  and  ejecting  it  corresponds  perfectly  with  Le  Moyne's  picture 
in  De  Bry.  See  the  United  States  government  publication,  History, 
Condition,  and  Prospects  of  Indian  Tribes,  V.  266 


1568.J  ADVANCES  TO  THE   ATTACK.  1G7 

men.  It  was  needless :  their  ardor  was .  at  fever 
height.  They  broke  in  upon  his  words,  and  de- 
manded to  be  led  at  once  against  the  enemy. 
Francois  Bourdelais,  with  twenty  sailors,  was  left 
with  the  ships,  and  Gourgues  affectionately  bade 
him  farewell. 

"  If  I  am  slain  in  this  most  just  enterprise,"  he 
said,  "  I  leave  all  in  your  charge,  and  pray  you  to 
carry  back  my  soldiers  to  France." 

There  were  many  embracings  among  the  ex- 
cited Frenchmen,  —  many  sympathetic  tears  from 
those  who  were  to  stay  behind,  —  many  messages 
left  with  them  for  wives,  children,  friends,  and 
mistresses ;  and  then  this  valiant  band  puslied 
their  boats  from  shore. ^  It  was  a  hare-brained 
venture,  for,  as  young  Debre  had  assured  them, 
the  Spaniards  on  the  River  of  May  were  four  hun- 
dred in  number,  secure  behind  their  ramparts.^ 

Hour  after  hour  the  sailors  pulled  at  the  oar. 
They  glided  slowly  by  the  sombre  shores  in  the 
shimmering  moonlight,  to  the  sound  of  the  mur- 
muring surf  and  the  moaning  pine  trees.  In  the 
gray  of  the  morning,  they  came  to  the  mouth  of  a 
river,  probably  the  Nassau ;  and  here  a  northeast 
wind  set  in  with  a  violence  that  almost  wrecked 
their  boats.     Their  Indian  allies  were  waiting  on 

^  "  Cecy  attendrist  fort  le  cueur  de  tous,  et  raesmement  des  mariniers 
qui  demeuroient  pour  la  garde  des  navires,  lesquels  ne  peureut  conteuir 
leurs  larmes,  et  fut  ceste  departie  plaine  de  compassion  d'ouir  taut 
d'adieux  d'une  part  et  d'aultre,  et  tant  de  charges  et  recommendations 
de  la  part  de  ceulx  qui  s'en  alloient  a  leurs  parents  et  amis,  et  h  leurs 
femmes  et  alliez  au  cas  qu'ils  ne  retournassent."     Prevost,  337. 

2  De  Gourgues  IMS     Basanier,  117  ;  Charlevoix,  I.  99. 


168  DOMINIQUE   DE   GOURGUES.  [1568. 

the  bank,  but  for  a  while  the  gale  delayed  their 
crossing.  The  bolder  French  would  lose  no  time, 
rowed  through  the  tossing  waves,  and,  landing 
safely,  left  their  boats,  and  pushed  into  the  forest. 
Gourgues  took  the  lead,  in  breastplate  and  back- 
piece.  At  his  side  marched  the  young  chief  Olo- 
toraca,  with  a -French  pike  in  his  hand ;  and  the 
files  of  arquebuse-men  and  armed  sailors  followed 
close  behind.  They  plunged  through  swamps, 
hewed  their  way  through  brambly  thickets  and 
the  matted  intricacies  of  the  forests,  and,  at  five 
in  the  afternoon,  almost  spent  with  fatigue  and 
hunger,  came  to  a  river  or  inlet  of  the  sea,-^  not 
far  from  the  first  Spanish  fort.  Here  they  found 
three  hundred  Indians  waiting  for  them. 

Tired  as  he  was,  Gourgues  would  not  rest.  He 
wished  to  attack  at  daybreak,  and  with  ten  arque- 
busiers  and  his  Indian  guide  he  set  out  to  recon- 
noitre. Night  closed  upon  him.  It  was  a  vain  task 
to  struggle  on,  in  pitchy  darkness,  among  trunks 
of  trees,  fallen  logs,  tangled  vines,  and  swollen 
streams.  Gourgues  returned,  anxious  and  gloomy. 
An  Indian  chief  approached  him,  read  through  the 
darkness  his  perturbed  look,  and  offered  to  lead 
him  by  a  better  path  along  the  margin  of  the  sea. 
Gourgues  joyfully  assented,  and  ordered  all  his 
men  to  march.  The  Indians,  better  skilled  in  wood- 
craft, chose  the  shorter  course  through  the  forest. 

The  French  forgot  their  weariness,  and  pressed 
on  with  speed.     At  dawn  they  and  their  allies  met 

1  Talbot  Inlet  ?  Compare  Sparks,  American  Biographj/,  2d  Ser.,  VII. 
128. 


1568.1 


THE  FIRST  SPANISH  FORT.  169 


on  the  bank  of  a  stream,  probably  Sister  Creek, 
beyond  which,  and  very  near,  was  the  fort.  But 
the  tide  was  in,  and  they  tried  in  vain  to  cross. 
Greatly  vexed,  —  for  he  had  hoped  to  take  the 
enemy  asleep,  —  Gourgues  withdrew  his  soldiers 
into  the  forest,  where  they  were  no  sooner  en- 
sconced than  a  drenching  rain  fell,  and  they  had 
much  ado  to  keep  their  gun-matches  burning.  The 
light  grew  fast.  Gourgues  plainly  saw  the  fort, 
the  defences  of  which  seemed  slight  and  unfinished. 
He  even  saw  the  Spaniards  at  work  within.  A  fe- 
verish interval  elapsed,  till  at  length  the  tide  was 
out,  —  so  far,  at  least,  that  the  stream  was  fordable. 
A  little  higher  up,  a  clump  of  trees  lay  between  it 
and  the  fort.  Behind  this  friendly  screen  the  pas- 
sage was  begun.  Each  man  tied  his  powder-flask 
to  his  steel  cap,  held  his  arquebuse  above  his  head 
with  one  hand,  and  grasped  his  sword  with  the 
other.  The  channel  was  a  bed  of  oysters.  The 
sharp  shells  cut  their  feet  as  they  waded  through. 
But  the  farther  bank  was  gained.  They  emerged 
from  the  water,  drenched,  lacerated,  and  bleeding, 
but  with  unabated  mettle.  Gourgues  set  them  in 
array  under  cover  of  the  trees.  They  stood  with 
kindling  eyes,  and  hearts  throbbing,  but  not  with 
fear.  Gourgues  pointed  to  the  Spanish  fort,  seen 
by  glimpses  through  the  boughs.  "  Look !  "  he 
said,  "there  are  the  robbers  who  have  stolen  this 
land  from  our  King ;  there  are  the  murderers  who 
have  butchered  our  countrymen!"^     With  voices 

1  "'....  et,   leur   monstraut   le   fort   qu'ils    pouvoieut   entreveoir   a 
travers  les  arbres,  voila  (dist  il)  les  volleurs  qui  out  voile  ceste  terre  a 


170  DOMINIQUE   DE  GOURGUES.  11568. 

esiget,  fierce,  but  half  suppressed,  they  demanded 
to  be  led  on. 

Gourgues  gave  the  word.  Cazenove,  his  lieu- 
tenant, with  thirty  men,  pushed  for  the  fort  gate ; 
he  himself,  with  the  main  body,  for  the  glacis.  It 
was  near  noon ;  the  Spaniards  had  just  finished 
their  meal,  and,  says  the  narrative,  "were  still 
picking  their  teeth,"  when  a  startled  cry  rang  in 
their  ears  :  — 

"  To  arms !  to  arms  !  The  French  are  coming  ! 
the  French  are  coming !  " 

It  was  the  voice  of  a  cannoneer  who  had  that 
moment  mounted  the  rampart  and  seen  the  as- 
sailants advancing  in  unbroken  ranks,  with  heads 
lowered  and  weapons  at  the  charge.  He  fired  his 
cannon  among  them.  He  even  had  time  to  load 
and  fire  again,  when  the  light-limbed  Olotoraca 
bounded  forward,  ran  up  the  glacis,  leaped  the 
unfinished  ditch,  and  drove  his  pike  through  the 
Spaniard  from  breast  to  back.  Gourgues  was  now 
on  the  glacis,  when  he  heard  Cazenove  shouting 
from  the  gate  that  the  Spaniards  were  escaping  on 
that  side.  He  turned  and  led  his  men  thither  at  a 
run.  In  a  moment,  the  fugitives,  sixty  in  all,  were 
enclosed  between  his  party  and  that  of  his  lieuten- 
ant. The  Indians,  too,  came  leaping  to  the  spot. 
Not  a  Spaniard  escaped.  All  were  cut  down  but  a 
few,  reserved  by  Gourgues  for  a  more  inglorious 
end.^ 

nostre  Roy,  voila  les  meurtriers  qui  ont  massacre  nos  fran9ois."  De 
Gounjues  MS.     Compare  Charlevoix,  I.   100. 

1  Barcia's  Spanish  account  agrees  with  the  De  Gourgues  MS.,  except 
in  a  statement  of  the  former  that  the  Indians  had  formed  an  ambuscade 
into  wliich  the  Spaniards  fell. 


1568.]  THE   SECOND  SPANISH  FORT.  171 

Meanwhile  the  Spaniards  in  the  other  fort,  on 
the  opposite  shore,  cannonaded  the  victors  with- 
out ceasing.  The  latter  turned  four  captured  guns 
against  them.  One  of  Gourgues's  boats,  a  very 
large  one,  had  been  brought  along-shore,  and,  en- 
tering it  with  eighty  soldiers,  he  pushed  for  the  far- 
ther bank.  With  loud  yells,  the  Indians  leaped  into 
the  river,  which  is  here  about  three  fourths  of  a 
mile  wide.  Each  held  his  bow  and  arrows  aloft  in 
one  hand,  while  he  swam  with  the  other.  A  panic 
seized  the  garrison  as  they  saw  the  savage  multi- 
tude. They  broke  out  of  the  fort  and  fled  into  the 
forest.  But  the  French  had  already  landed ;  and, 
throwing  themselves  in  the  path  of  the  fugitives, 
they  greeted  them  with  a  storm  of  lead.  The  ter- 
rified wretches  recoiled  ;  but  flight  was  vain.  The 
Indian  whoop  rang  behind  them,  and  war-clubs 
and  arrows  finished  the  work.  Gourgues's  utmost 
efforts  saved  but  fifteen,  not  out  of  mercy,  but  from 
a  refinement  of  vengeance.^ 

The  next  day  was  Quasimodo  Sunday,  or  the 
Sunday  after  Easter.  Gourgues  and  his  men  re- 
mained quiet,  making  ladders  for  the  assault  on 
Fort  San  Mateo.  Meanwhile  the  whole  forest  was 
in  arms,  and,  far  and  near,  the  Indians  were  wild 
with  excitement.  They  beset  the  Spanish  fort  till 
not  a  soldier  could  venture  out.  The  garrison, 
aware  of  their  danger,  though  ignorant  of  its  ex- 
tent, devised  an  expedient  to  gain   information; 

1  It  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  a  strong  savor  of  romauce  in  the 
French  narrative.  The  admissions  of  the  Spanish  annalist  prove,  how- 
ever, that  it  has  a  broad  basis  of  truth. 


172  DOMINIQUE   DE   GOURGUES.  [1568. 

and  one  of  them,  painted  and  feathered  like  an  In- 
dian, ventured  within  Gourgues's  outposts.  He 
himself  chanced  to  be  at  hand,  and  by  his  side 
walked  his  constant  attendant,  Olotoraca.  The 
keen-eyed  young  savage  pierced  the  cheat  at  a 
glance.  The  spy  was  seized,  and,  being  examined, 
declared  that  there  were  two  hundred  and  sixty 
Spaniards  in  San  Mateo,  and  that  they  believed  the 
French  to  be  two  thousand,  and  were  so  frightened 
that  they  did  not  know  what  they  were  doing. 

Gourgues,  well  pleased,  pushed  on  to  attack 
them.  On  Monday  evening  he  sent  forward  the 
Indians  to  ambush  themselves  on  both  sides  of  the 
fort.  In  the  morning  he  followed  with  his  French- 
men ;  and,  as  the  glittering  ranks  came  into  view, 
defiling  between  the  forest  and  the  river,  the  Span- 
iards opened  on  them  with  culverins  from  a  pro- 
jecting bastion.  The  French  took  cover  in  the 
woods  with  which  the  hills  below  and  behind  the 
fort  were  densely  overgrown.  Here,  himself  un- 
seen, Gourgues  could  survey  the  whole  extent  of 
the  defences,  and  he  presently  descried  a  strong 
party  of  Spaniards  issuing  from  their  works,  cross- 
ing the  ditch,  and  advancing  to  reconnoitre.  On 
this,  he  sent  Cazenove,  with  a  detachment,  to  sta- 
tion himself  at  a  point  well  hidden  by  trees  on  the 
flank  of  the  Spaniards,  who,  with  strange  infatua- 
tion, continued  their  advance.  Gourgues  and  his 
followers  pushed  on  through  the  thickets  to  meet 
them.  As  the  Spaniards  reached  the  edge  of  the 
open  ground,  a  deadly  fire  blazed  in  their  faces, 
and,  before  the  smoke  cleared,   the  French  were 


1568.]  FORT   SAN   MATEO   TAKEN.  173 

among  tbem,  sword  in  hand.  The  survivors  would 
have  fled ;  but  Cazenove's  detachment  fell  upon 
their  rear,  and  all  were  killed  or  taken. 

When  their  comrades  in  the  fort  beheld  their 
fate,  a  panic  seized  them.  Conscious  of  their  own 
deeds,  perpetrated  on  this  very  spot,  they  could 
hope  no  mercy,  and  their  terror  multiplied  im- 
measurably the  numbers  of  their  enemy.  They 
abandoned  the  fort  in  a  body,  and  fled  into  the 
woods  most  remote  from  the  French.  But  here  a 
deadlier  foe  awaited  them ;  for  a  host  of  Indians 
leaped  up  from  ambush.  Then  rose  those  hideous 
war-cries  which  have  curdled  the  boldest  blood 
and  blanched  the  manliest  cheek.  The  forest 
warriors,  with  savage  ecstasy,  wreaked  their  long 
arrears  of  vengeance,  while  the  French  hastened 
to  the  spot,  and  lent  their  swords  to  the  slaughter. 
A  few  prisoners  were  saved  alive  ;  the  rest  were 
slain ;  and  thus  did  the  Spaniards  make  bloody 
atonement  for  the  butchery  of  Fort  Caroline.^ 

But  Gourgues's  vengeance  was  not  yet  appeased. 
Hard  by  the  fort,  the  trees  were  pointed  out  to 
him  on  which  Menendez  had  hanged  his  captives, 
and  placed  over  them  the  inscription,  "  Not  as  to 
Frenchmen,  but  as  to  Lutherans." 

Gourgues  ordered  the  Spanish  prisoners  to  be 
led  thither. 

1  This  is  the  French  account.  The  Spaniard  Barcia,  with  greater 
probability,  says  that  some  of  the  Spaniards  escaped  to  the  hills.  With 
this  exception,  the  French  and  Spanish  accounts  agree.  Barcia  ascribes 
the  defeat  of  his  countrymen  to  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  enemy's  force. 
The  governor,  Gonzalo  de  Villaroel,  was,  he  says,  among  those  wlio  es- 
caped. I  have  purposely  preserved  in  the  narrative  the  somewhat  exalted 
tone  of  the  original  French  account. 


174  DOMINIQUE   DE   GOURGUES.  [1568. 

"  Did  you  think,"  lie  sternly  said,  as  the  pallid 
wretches  stood  ranged  before  him,  "  that  so  vile  a 
treachery,  so  detestable  a  cruelty,  against  a  King 
so  potent  and  a  nation  so  generous,  would  go  un- 
punished ?  I,  one  of  the  humblest  gentlemen 
among  my  King's  subjects,  have  charged  myself 
with  avenging  it.  Even  if  the  Most  Christian 
and  the  Most  Catholic  Kings  had  been  enemies, 
at  deadly  war,  such  perfidy  and  extreme  cruelty 
would  still  have  been  unpardonable.  Now  that 
they  are  friends  and  close  allies,  there  is  no  name 
vile  enough  to  brand  your  deeds,  no  punishment 
sharp  enough  to  requite  them.  But  though  you 
cannot  suffer  as  you  deserve,  you  shall  suffer  all 
that  an  enemy  can  honorably  inflict,  that  your 
example  may  teach  others  to  observe  the  peace 
and  alliance  which  you  have  so  perfidiously  vio- 
lated." ^ 

They  were  hanged  where  the  French  had  hung 
before  them ;  and  over  them  was  nailed  the  in- 
scription, burned  with  a  hot  iron  on  a  tablet  of 
pine,  "  Not  as  to  Spaniards,  but  as  to  Traitors, 
Robbers,  and  Murderers."^ 

Gourgues's   mission   was   fulfilled.     To   occupy 

1  "...  .  Mais  encores  que  vous  ne  puissiez  endurer  la  peine  que  vous 
avez  mcritc'e,  il  est  besoin  que  vous  enduriez  celle  qwe  Teiinemy  vous 
peult  donner  honnestement :  affin  que  par  A-ostre  exemple  les  autres  ap- 
preignent  a  garder  la  paix  et  alliance  que  si  meschamment  et  malheu- 
reusemeut  vous  avez  violce.  Cela  dit,  ils  sont  brauchez  aux  mesnies 
arbres  oil  ils  avoient  penduz  les  Fran9ois."     De  Gourc/ues  MS. 

2  "  Je  ne  faicts  cecy  cunime  a  Espaignolz,  n'y  comme  a  Marannes  ; 
mais  comme  a  traistres,  voUeurs,  et  meurtriers."     De  Gourgues  j\/S. 

Maranne,  or  Marane,  was  a  word  of  reproach  applied  to  Spaniards.  It 
seems  originally  to  have  meant  a  Moor.  Michelet  calls  Ferdinand  of 
Spain   "  ce  vieux  Marane  avare."      The  Spanish  Pope,   Alexander  the 


1568.]  THE   FORTS   DESTROYED.  175 

the  country  had  never  been  his  intention  ;  nor  was 
it  possible,  for  the  Spaniards  were  still  in  force  at 
St.  Augustine.  His  was  a  whirlwind  visitation, 
—  to  ravage,  ruin,  and  vanish.  He  harangued 
the  Indians,  and  exhorted  them  to  demolish  the 
fort.  They  fell  to  the  work  with  eagerness,  and 
in  less  than  a  day  not  one  stone  was  left  on 
another.^ 

Gourgues  returned  to  the  forts  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  destroyed  them  also,  and  took  up  his 
march  for  his  ships.  It  was  a  triumphal  proces- 
sion. The  Indians  thronged  around  the  victors 
with  gifts  of  fish  and  game  ;  and  an  old  woman 
declared  that  she  was  now  ready  to  die,  since  she 
had  seen  the  French  once  more. 

The  ships  were  ready  for  sea.  Gourgues  bade 
his  disconsolate  allies  farewell,  and  nothing  would 
content  them  but  a  promise  to  return  soon.  Be- 
fore embarking,  he  addressed  his  own  men  :  — 

"  My  friends,  let  us  give  thanks  to  God  for  the 
success  He  has  granted  us.  It  is  He  who  saved  us 
from  tempests;  it  is  He  who  inclined  the  hearts 
of  the  Indians  towards  us  ;  it  is  He  who  blinded 
the  understanding  of  the  Spaniards.  They  were 
four  to  one,  in  forts  well  armed  and  provisioned. 
Our  right  was  our  only  strength  ;  and  yet  we  have 
conquered.     Not  to  our  own  swords,  but  to  God 

Sixth,  was  always  nicknamed  Le  Marane  by  his  enemy  and  successor, 
Rovere. 

On  returning  to  the  forts  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  Gourgues  hanged 
all  the  prisoners  he  had  left  there.  One  of  them,  says  the  narrative,  con- 
fessed that  he  had  aided  in  hanging  the  French. 

^  "  Ilz  feirent  telle  diligence  qu'en  moings  d'ung  jour  ilz  ne  laisserent 
pierre  sur  pierre."     De  Gourgues  MS, 


176  DOMINIQUE  DE   GOUKGUES.  11568. 

only,  we  owe  our  victory.  .Then  let  us  thank 
Him,  my  friends ;  let  us  never  forget  His  favors ; 
and  let  us  pray  that  He  may  continue  them,  sav- 
ing us  from  dangers,  and  guiding  us  safely  home. 
Let  us  pray,  too,  that  He  may  so  dispose  the 
hearts  of  men  that  our  perils  and  toils  may  find 
favor  in  the  eyes  of  our  King  and  of  all  France, 
since  all  we  have  done  was  done  for  the  King's 
service  and  for  the  honor  of  our  country."  -^ 

Thus  Spaniards  and  Frenchmen  alike  laid  their 
reeking  swords  on  God's  altar. 

Gourgues  sailed  on  the  third  of  May,  and,  gaz- 
ing back  along  their  foaming  wake,  the  adven- 
turers looked  their  last  on  the  scene  of  their 
exploits.  Their  success  had  cost  its  price.  A 
few  of  their  number  had  fallen,  and  hardships 
still  awaited  the  survivors.  Gourgues,  however, 
reached  Rochelle  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and 
the  Huguenot  citizens  greeted  him  with  all  honor. 
At  court  it  fared  worse  with  him.  The  King, 
still  obsequious  to  Spain,  looked  on  him  coldly 
and  askance.  The  Spanish  minisler  demanded 
his  head.  It  was  hinted  to  him  that  he  was 
not  safe,  and  he  withdrew  to  Rouen,  where  he 
found  asylum  among  his  friends.  His  fortune 
was  gone  ;  debts  contracted  for  his  expedition 
weighed  heavily  on  him  ;  and  for  years  he  lived 
in  obscurity,  almost  in  misery. 

At  length  his  prospects  brightened.  Elizabeth 
of  England  learned  his  merits  and  his  misfortunes, 

1  De  Gourgues  MS.  The  speech  is  a  little  condensed  in  the  trans- 
lation. 


1583.]  HIS   DEATH.  177 

and  invited  him  to  enter  her  service.  The  Kins:, 
who,  says  the  Jesuit  historian,  had  always  at  heart 
been  dehghted  with  his  achievement,^  openly  re- 
stored him  to  favor  ;  while,  some  years  later,  Don 
Antonio  tendered  him  command  of  his  fleet,  to 
defend  his  right  to  the  crown  of  Portugal  against 
Philip  the  Second.  Gourgues,  happy  once  more  to 
cross  swords  with  the  Spaniards,  gladly  embraced 
this  offer ;  but  in  1583,  on  his  way  to  join  the  Por- 
tuguese prince,  he  died  at  Tours  of  a  sudden  ill- 
ness.^ The  French  mourned  the  loss  of  the  man 
who  had  wiped  a  blot  from  the  national  scutcheon, 
and  respected  his  memory  as  that  of  one  of  the  best 
captains  of  his  time.  And,  in  truth,  if  a  zealous 
patriotism,  a  fiery  valor,  and  skilful  leadership  are 
worthy  of  honor,  then  is  such  a  tribute  due  to 
Dominique  de  Gourgues,  slave-catcher  and  half- 
pirate  as  he  was,  like  other  naval  heroes  of  that 
wild  age. 

Romantic  as  was  his  exploit,  it  lacked  the  ful- 
ness of  poetic  justice,  since  the  chief  offender 
escaped  him.  While  Gourgues  was  sailing  to- 
wards Florida,  Menendez  was  in  Spain,  high  in 
favor  at  court,  where  he  told  to  approving  ears 
how  he  had  butchered  the  heretics.  Borgia,  the 
sainted  General  of  the  Jesuits,  was  his  fast  friend ; 
and  two  years  later,  when  he  returned  to  Amer- 
ica, the  Pope,  Paul  the  Fifth,  regarding  him  as 
an  instrument  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians, 

1  Charlevoix,  Nonvelle  France,  I.  105. 

2  Basanier,  123;  Lescarbot,  141;  Barcia,  137;  Gaillard,  Notice  des 
Manuscrks  de  In  Bibliotheque  du  Roi. 

12 


178  DOMINIQUE   DE   GOURGUES.  [1574. 

wrote  him  a  letter  with  his  benediction.^  He  re- 
established his  power  in  Florida,  rebuilt  Fort  San 
Mateo,  and  taught  the  Indians  that  death  or  flight 
was  the  only  refuge  from  Spanish  tyranny.  They 
murdered  his  missionaries  and  spurned  their  doc- 
trine. "  The  Devil  is  the  best  thing  in  the 
world,"  they  cried  ;  ''  we  adore  him  ;  he  makes 
men  brave."  Even  the  Jesuits  despaired, .  and 
abandoned  Florida  in  disgust. 

Menendez  was  summoned  home,  where  fresh 
honors  awaited  him  from  the  Crown,  though,  ac- 
cording to  the  somewhat  doubtful  assertion  of 
the  heretical  Grotius,  his  deeds  had  left  a  stain 
upon  his  name  among  the  people.^  He  was  given 
command  of  the  armada  of  three  hundred  sail 
and  twenty  thousand  men,  which,  in  1574,  was 
gathered  at  Santander  against  England  and  Flan- 
ders. But  now,  at  the  height  of  his  fortunes, 
his  career  was  abruptly  closed.  He  died  sud- 
denly, at  the  age  of  fifty-five.  Grotius  affirms 
that  he  killed  himself ;  but,  in  his  eagerness  to 
point  the  moral  of  his  story,  he  seems  to  have 
overstepped  the  bounds  of  historic  truth.  The 
Spanish  bigot  was  rarely  a  suicide ;  for  the  rites 
of  Christian  burial  and  repose  in  consecrated 
ground  were  denied  to  the  remains  of  the  self- 
murderer.  There  is  positive  evidence,  too,  in  a 
codicil  to  the  will  of  Menendez,  dated  at  San- 
tander on  the  fifteenth  of  September,  1574,  that 
he  was  on  that  day  seriously   ill,  though,   as  the 

1  "  Carta  de  San  Pio  V.  a  Pedro  Menendez,"  Barcia,  139. 
'  Grotius,  Annales,  63. 


1574.]  DEATH   OF   MENENDEZ.  179 

instrument  declares,  "  of  sound  mind."  There  is 
reason,  then,  to  believe  that  this  pious  cut-throat 
died  a  natural  death,  crowned  with  honors,  and 
soothed  by  the  consolations  of  his  religion.-^ 

It  was  he  wdio  crushed  French  Protestantism  in 
America.  To  plant  religious  freedom  on  this 
western  soil  was  not  the  mission  of  France.  It 
was  for  her  to  rear  in  northern  forests  the  ban- 
ner of  absolutism  and  of  Rome ;  while  among 
the  rocks  of  Massachusetts  England  and  Calvin 
fronted  her  in  dogged  opposition. 

Long  before  the  ice-crusted  pines  of  Plymouth 
had  listened  to  the  rugged  psalmody  of  the  Puri- 
tan, the  solitudes  of  Western  New  York  and  the 
stern  wilderness  of  Lake  Huron  were  trodden  by 
the  iron  heel  of  the  soldier  and  the  sandalled  foot 
of  the  Franciscan  friar.  France  was  the  true 
pioneer  of  the  Great  West.  They  who  bore  the 
fleur-de-lis  were  always  in  the  van,  patient,  daring, 
indomitable.  And  foremost  on  this  bright  roll  of 
forest  chivalry  stands  the  half-forgotten  name  of 
Samuel  de  Champlain. 

1  For  a  copy  of  portions  of  the  wiU,  and  other  interesting:  pa]iers  con- 
cerning Meneudez,  I  am  indel)ted  to  Buckingiiam  Smith,  Esq.,  whose 
patient  and  zealous  research  in  the  archives  of  Spain  has  thrown  new 
L'ght  on  Spanish  North  American  history. 

Tliere  is  a  brief  notice  of  Meneudez  in  De  la  Mota's  Hlstorij  of  the  Order 
of  Santiago,  (1599,)  and  also  another  of  later  date  written  to  accompany 
his  engraved  portrait.     Neither  of  them  conveys  any  hint  of  suicide. 

Meneudez  was  a  Commander  of  the  Order  of  bautiago. 


SAMUEL    DE    CHAMPLAIN 

AND 

HIS   ASSOCIATES  ; 

WITH    A 

VIEW  OF   EAKLIER  FRENCH  ADVENTURE  IN  AMERICA, 

AND    THE 

LEGENDS  OF  THE  NORTHERN  COASTS. 


CHAMPLAIN  AND   HIS  ASSOCIATES. 


Samuel  de  Champlain  has  been  fitly  called  the 
Father  of  New  France.  In  him  were  embodied 
her  religious  zeal  and  romantic  spirit  of  adven- 
ture. Before  the  close  of  his  career,  purged  of 
heresy,  she  took  the  posture  which  she  held  to  the 
day  of  her  death,  —  in  one  hand  the  crucifix,  in 
the  other  the  sword.  His  life,  full  of  significance, 
is  the  true  beginning  of  her  eventful  history. 

In  respect  to  Champlain,  the  most  satisfactory 
authorities  are  his  own  writings.  These  consist 
of  the  journal  of  his  voyage  to  the  West  Indies 
and  Mexico,  of  which  the  original  is  preserved  at 
Dieppe ;  the  account  of  his  first  voyage  to  the 
St.  Lawrence,  published  at  Paris,  in  1604,  under 
the  title  of  Des  Sauvages ;  a  narrative  of  subse- 
quent adventures  and  explorations,  published  at 
Paris  in  1613,  1615,  and  1617,  under  the  title  of 
Voyage  de  la  Nouvelle  France ;  a  narrative  of 
still  later  discoveries,  published  at  Paris  in  1620 
and  1627 ;  and,  finally,  a  compendium  of  all  his 
previous  publications,  with  much  additional  mat- 
ter, published  in  quarto  at  Paris  in  1632,  and  illus- 
trated by  a  very  curious  and  interesting  map. 


184  CHAMPLAIN  AND   HIS  ASSOCIATES. 

Next  in  value  to  the  writings  of  Champlain  are 
those  of  his  associate,  Lescarbot,  whose  Histoire  de 
la  Nouvelle  France  is  of  great  interest  and  author- 
ity as  far  as  it  relates  the  author's  personal  expe- 
rience. The  editions  here  consulted  are  those  of 
1612  and  1618.  The  Muses  de  la  Nouvelle  France, 
and  other  minor  works  of  Lescarbot,  have  also 
been  examined. 

The  Etahlissement  de  la  Foij  of  Le  Clerc  is  of 
great  value  in  connection  with  the  present  subject, 
containing  documents  and  extracts  from  documents 
not  elsewhere  to  be  found.  It  is  of  extreme  rarity, 
having  been  suppressed  by  the  French  government 
soon  after  its  appearance  in  1691. 

The  Histoire  dit  Canada  of  Sagard,  the  Premiere 
Mission  des  Jesuites  of  Carayon,  the  curious  Rela- 
tion of  the  Jesuit  Biard,  and  those  of  the  Jesuits 
Charles  Lalemant,  Le  Jeune,  and  Brebeuf,  together 
with  two  narratives  —  one  of  them  perhaps  writ- 
ten by  Champlain  —  in  the  eighteenth  and  nine- 
teenth volumes  of  the  Mercure  Frangais,  may  also 
be  mentioned  as  among  the  leading  authorities  of 
the  body  of  this  work.  Those  of  the  introductory 
portion  need  not  be  specified  at  present. 

Of  manuscripts  used,  the  principal  are  the  Bref 
Disco'Ltrs  of  Champlain,  or  the  journal  of  his  voy- 
age to  the  West  Indies  and  Mexico;  the  Grand 
Insidaire  et  Pilotage  d' Andre  Thevet,  an  ancient 
and  very  curious  document,  in  which  the  super- 
stitions of  Breton  and  Norman  fishermen  are  re- 
counted by  one  who  shared  them ;  and  a  variety 
of   official   papers,  obtained  for  me   through    the 


CHAMPLAIN  AND   HIS  ASSOCIATES.  185 

agency  of  Mr.  B.  P.  Poore,  from  the  archives  of 
France. 

I  am  indebted  to  G.  B.  Faribault,  Esq.,  of 
Quebec,  and  to  the  late  Jacques  Viger,  Esq.,  of 
Montreal,  for  the  use  of  valuable  papers  and  mem- 
oranda ;  to  the  Rev.  John  Cordner,  of  Montreal, 
for  various  kind  acts  of  co-operation;  to  Jared 
Sparks,  LL.  D.,  for  the  use  of  a  copy  of  Le  Clerc's 
Etahlissement  de  la  Foy ;  to  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Calla- 
ghan,  for  assistance  in  examining  rare  books  in 
the  State  Library  of  New  York ;  to  John  Carter 
Brown,  Esq.,  and  Colonel  Thomas  Aspinwall,  for 
the  use  of  books  from  their  admirable  collections ; 
while  to  the  libraries  of  Harvard  College  and  of 
the  Boston  Athenaeum  I  owe  a  standing  debt  of 
gratitude. 

The  basis  of  descriptive  passages  was  supplied 
through  early  tastes  and  habits,  which  long  since 
made  me  familiar  with  most  of  the  localities  of 
the  narrative. 


SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1488-1543. 

EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE  IN  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Tkaditions  of  French  Discovery.  —  Normans,  Bretons,  Basques. 
—  Legends  and  Superstitions.  —  Verrazzano.  —  Jacques  Car- 
tier.  —  Quebec.  —  Hochelaga.  —  Winter  Miseries.  —  Rober- 
VAL.  —  The  Isles  of  Demons.  —  The  Colonists  of  Cap  Rouge. 

When  America  was  first  made  known  to  Eu- 
rope, the  part  assmned  by  France  on  the  borders 
of  that  new  world  was  peculiar,  and  is  little  recog- 
nized. While  the  Spaniard  roamed  sea  and  land, 
burning  for  achievement,  red-hot  with  bigotry  and 
avarice,  and  while  England,  with  soberer  steps 
and  a  less  dazzling  result,  followed  in  the  path  of 
discovery  and  gold-hunting,  it  was  from  France 
that  those  barbarous  shores  first  learned  to  serve 
the  ends  of  peaceful  commercial  industry. 

A  French  writer,  however,  advances  a  more  am- 
bitious claim.  In  the  year  1488,  four  years  before 
the  first  voyage  of  Columbus,  America,  he  main- 
tains, was  found  by  Frenchmen.  Cousin,  a  navi- 
gator of  Dieppe,  being  at  sea  off  the  African  coast, 
was  forced  westward,  it  is  said,  by  winds  and  cur- 
rents to  within  sight  of  an  unknown  shore,  where 


188  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1492. 

he  presently  descried  the  mouth  of  a  great  river. 
On  board  his  ship  was  one  Pinzon,  wliose  conduct 
became  so  mutinous  that,  on  his  return  to  Dieppe, 
Cousin  made  complaint  to  the  magistracy,  who 
thereupon  dismissed  the  offender  from  the  mari- 
time service  of  the  town.  Pinzon  went  to  Spain, 
became  known  to  Columbus,  told  him  the  discov- 
ery, and  joined  him  on  his  voyage  of  1492.^ 

To  leave  this  cloudland  of  tradition,  and  ap- 
proach the  confines  of  recorded  history.  The  Nor- 
mans, offspring  of  an  ancestry  of  conquerors,  — 
the  Bretons,  that  stubborn,  hardy,  unchanging 
race,  who,  among  Druid  monuments  changeless  as 
themselves,  still  cling  with  Celtic  obstinacy  to  the 
thoughts  and  habits  of  the  past,  —  the  Basques, 
that  primeval  people,  older  than  history,  —  all  f re- 

1  Memoires  pour  servir  a  I'Histoire  de  Dieppe  ;  Vitet,  Histoire  de  Dieppe, 
226 ;  Gaffarel,  Bre'sil  Fran^ais,  1.  Compte-rendu  du  Congres  International 
des  Ame'ricanistes,  I.  398-414;  Guerin,  Navigateurs  Fran^ais,  47  :  Estance- 
lin,  Navigateurs  Normands,  332.  This  last  writer's  research  to  verify  the 
tradition  was  vain.  The  bombardment  of  1694  nearly  destroyed  the  ar- 
chives of  Dieppe,  and  nothing  could  be  learned  from  the  Pinzons  of  Pales. 
Yet  the  story  may  not  be  quite  void  of  foundation.  In  1.500,  Cabral  was 
blown  within  sight  of  Brazil  in  a  similar  manner.  Herrera  {Hist.  General, 
Dec.  I.  Lib.  I.  c.  3)  gives  several  parallel  instance.^  as  having  reached  the 
ears  of  Columbus  before  his  first  voyage.  Compare  the  Introduction  to 
Lok's  translation  of  Peter  Martyr,  and  Eden  and  Willes,  History  of  Trn- 
rai/les,  fol.  1  ;  also  a  story  in  the  Journal  de  V Ame'rique  (Troyes,  1709),  and 
Gomara,  Hist.  Gen.  des  hides  Occidentales,  Lib.  I.  c.  13.  Tliese  last,  how- 
ever, are  probably  inventions. 

In  the  Description  des  Costes  de  la  Mer  Octane,  a  manuscript  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  it  is  said  that  a  French  pilot  of  St.  Jean  de  Luz  fir.st 
discovered  America :  "  II  fut  le  premier  jete'  en  la  coste  de  I'Amerique 
par  une  violente  tempeste,  laissa  son  papier  journal,  communiqua  la  route 
qu'il  avoit  faite  a  Coulon,  chez  qui  il  mourut."  See  Monteil,  Traite' de 
31afe'riaux  Manuscrits,  I.  340.  The  story  is  scarcely  worth  the  mention. 
Harrisse  {Les  Cortereal,  27)  thinks  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  Por- 
tuguese reached  the  American  continent  as  early  as  1474,  or  even  ten 
years  earlier. 


1504.]  NEWFOUNDLAND.  189 

quented  from  a  very  early  date  the  cod-banks  of 
Newfoundland.  There  is  some  reason  to  believe 
that  this  fishery  existed  before  the  voyage  of  Cabot, 
in  1497 ;  ^  there  is  strong  evidence  that  it  began 
as  early  as  the  year  1504;^  and  it  is  well  estab- 

1  "  Terra  hnec  ob  lucrosissimam  piseationis  utilitatem  summa  Jittera- 
rum  memoria  a  Gallis  adiri  solita,  &  aute  mille  sexceutos  anuos  frequen- 
tari  solita  est."     Postel,  cited  by  Lescarbot,  I.  237,  and  by  Hornot,  260. 

"  De  toute  me'moire,  &  des  plusieurs  siecles  noz  ])iepois,  Maloins, 
Rochelois,  &  autres  mariniers  du  Havre  de  Grace,  de  Houfleur  &  autres 
lieux,  font  les  voyages  ordiuaires  en  ces  pa'is-la  pour  la  pecherie  des 
Morues."     Lescarbot,  I.  236. 

Compare  the  following  extracts :  — 

"  Les  Basques  et  les  Bretons  sont  depuis  plusieurs  siecles  les  seuls  qui 
se  soient  employes  a  la  peche  de  balaiues  et  des  molues ;  et  il  est  fort  re- 
marquable  que  S.  Cabot,  decouvrant  la  cote  de  Labrador,  y  trouva  le  nom 
de  Bacallos,  qui  siguifie  des  Molues  en  langue  des  Basques."  MS.  in  the 
JRoi/al  Lihrarjj  of  Versailles. 

"  Quant  au  nom  de  Bacalos,  il  est  de  I'imposition  de  nos  Basques,  les- 
quels  appellent  une  Morue,  Bacaillos,  &  a  leur  imitation  nos  peuples  de  la 
Nouvelle  France  ont  appris  a  nommer  aussi  la  Moruii  Bncaillos,  quoy- 
qu'en  leur  langage  le  nom  propre  de  la  morue  soit  Apege'."  Lescarbot, 
L  237. 

De  Laet  also  says,  incidentally  (p.  39),  that  "  Bacalaos"  is  Basque  for 
a  codfish.  I  once  asked  a  Basque  gentleman  the  name  for  a  codfish  in 
his  language,  aud  he  at  once  answered  Baccalaos.  The  word  has  been 
adopted  by  the  Spaniards. 

"'  Sebastian  Cabot  himself  named  those  lands  Baccalaos,  because  that 
in  the  seas  thereabout  he  found  so  great  multitudes  of  certain  bigge  fishes, 
much  like  unto  Tunies  (which  the  inhabitants  call  Baccalaos),  that  they 
sometimes  stayed  his  shippes."  Peter  Martyr  in  Hakluyt,  III.  30 ;  Eden 
and  Willes,  125. 

If,  in  the  original  Basque,  Baccalaos  is  the  word  for  a  codfish,  and  if 
Cabot  found  it  in  use  among  the  inhabitants  of  Newfoundland,  it  is  hard 
to  escape  the  conclusion  that  Basques  had  been  there  before  him. 

This  name  Baccalaos  is  variously  used  by  the  old  writers.  Cabot  gave 
it  to  the  continent,  as  far  as  he  coasted  it.  The  earliest  Spanish  writers 
give  it  an  application  almost  as  comprehensive.  On  Wytfleit's  map 
(1597)  it  is  confined  to  Newfoundland  and  Labrador;  on  Eamusio's 
(1556),  to  the  southern  parts  of  Newfoundland;  on  Lescarbot's  (1612), 
to  the  island  of  Cape  Breton;  on  De  Laet's  (1640),  to  a  small  island  east 
of  Newfoundland. 

2  Discorso  d'  un  gran  Capitano  di  Mare  Francese,  Ramusio,  III.  423. 
Bamusio  does  not  know  the  name  of  the  "  gran  capitano,"  but  Estancelin 


190  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1527. 

lished  that,  in  1517,  fifty  Castilian,  French,  and 
Portuguese  vessels  were  engaged  in  it  at  once ; 
while  in  1527,  on  the  third  of  August,  eleven 
sail  of  Norman,  one  of  Breton,  and  two  of  Portu- 
guese fishermen  were  to  be  found  in  the  Bay  of 
St.  John.^ 

From  this  time  forth,  the  Newfoundland  fishery 
was  never  abandoned.  French,  English,  Spanish, 
and  Portuguese  made  resort  to  the  Banks,  always 
jealous,  often  quarrelling,  but  still  drawing  up 
treasure  from  those  exhaustless  mines,  and  bear- 
ing home  bountiful  provision  against  the  season 
of  Lent. 

On  this  dim  verge  of  the  known  world  there 
were  other  perils  than  those  of  the  waves.  The 
rocks  and  shores  of  those  sequestered  seas  had,  so 
thought  the  voyagers,  other  tenants  than  the  seal, 
the  walrus  and  the  screaming  sea-fowl,  the  bears 

proves  him  to  have  been  Jean  Parmeutier,  of  Dieppe.  From  internal 
evidence,  his  memoir  was  written  in  1.5.39,  and  he  says  that  Newfoundland 
was  visited  by  Bretons  and  Normans  thirty -five  years  before.  "  Britones 
et  Normani  anno  a  Christo  nato  M,CCCCC,IIII  has  terras  invenere." 
Wytfleit,  Descriptioms  Ptolemaicte  Anrjiuentum,  185.  The  translation  of 
Wytfleit  (Douay,  1611)  bears  also  the  name  of  Antoine  Magin.  It  is 
cited  by  Champlaiu  as  "  Niflet  &  Antoine  Magin."  See  also  Ogilby, 
America,  128;  Forster,  Voj/ages,  431  ;  Baumgartens,  I.  516;  Biard,  7ie/a- 
tion,  2  ;  Bergeron,  Traits  de  la  Navifjntion,  c.  14. 

1  Herrera,  Dec.  II.  Lib.  V.  c.  3 ;  Letter  of  John  Rut,  dated  St.  John's, 
3  August,  1527,  in  Purchas,  III.  809. 

The  name  of  Cape  Breton,  found  on  the  oldest  maps,  is  a  memorial  of 
these  early  French  voyajies.  Cartier,  in  1534,  found  the  capes  and  bays 
of  Newfoundland  already  named  by  his  countrymen  who  had  preceded 
him.  In  1565,  Charles  IX.  of  France  informed  the  Spanish  ambassador 
that  the  coast  of  North  America  had  been  discovered  by  French  subjects 
more  than ,  a  hundred  years  before,  and  is  therefore  called  "  Terre  aux 
Bretons."     Poplcrs  d'Esfat  de  ForqueratiJ.r,  in  Gaffarel,  F/oride,  413. 

Navarrete's  position,  that  the  fisheries  date  no  farther  back  than  1540, 
is  wholly  untenable. 


1500-1550.]  THE   ISLES   OF   DEMONS.  191 

which  stole  away  their  fish  before  their  eyes,^  and 
the  wild  natives  dressed  in  seal-skins.  Griffins  — 
so  ran  the  story  —  infested  the  mountains  of  Labra- 
dor.^ Two  islands,  north  of  Newfoundland,  were 
given  over  to  the  fiends  from  whom  the}^  derived 
their  name,  the  Isles  of  Demons.  An  old  map 
pictures  their  occupants  at  length,  devils  rampant, 
with  wings,  horns,  and  tail.^  The  passing  voyager 
heard  the  din  of  their  infernal  orgies,  and  woe  to 
the  sailor  or  the  fisherman  who  ventured  alone 
into  the  haunted  woods.*  "  True  it  is,"  writes  the 
old  cosmographer  Tlievet,  "  and  I  myself  have 
heard  it,  not  from  one,  but  from  a  great  number 
of  the  sailors  and  pilots  with  whom  I  have  made 
many  voyages,  that,  when  they  passed  this  way, 
they  heard  in  the  air,  on  the  tops  and  about  the 
masts,  a  great  clamor  of  men's  voices,  confused 
and  inarticulate,  such  as  you  may  hear  from  the 
crowd  at  a  fair  or  market-place ;  whereupon  they 
well  knew  that  the  Isle  of  Demons  was  not  far 
off."     And  he  adds,  that  he  himself,  when  among 

1  "  The  Beares  also  be  as  bold,  which  will  not  spare  at  midday  to  take 
your  fish  before  your  face."  Letter  of  Anthonie  Parkhurst,  1578,  iu  Hak- 
luyt,  III.  170. 

2  Wytfleit,  1 90 ;  Gomara,  Lib.  I.  c.  2. 

^  See  Ramusio,  III.  Compare  La  Popeliniere,  Les  Trois  Mondes, 
IL  25. 

*  Le  Grand  Jnsxdaire  et  Pilotage  d' Andre  Thevet,  Cosmocjraphe  du  Roy 
(1586).  I  am  indebted  to  G.  B.  Faribault,  Esq.,  of  Quebec,  for  a  copy 
of  this  curious  manuscript.  The  islands  are  perhaps  those  of  Belle  Isle 
and  Quirpon.  More  probably,  however,  that  most  held  iu  dread,  "pour 
autant  que  les  Demons  y  font  terrible  tiutamarre,"  is  a  small  island  near 
the  northeast  extremity  of  Newfoundland,  variously  called,  by  Thevet,  Isle 
de  Fiche,  Isle  de  Roberval,  and  Isle  des  Demons.  It  is  the  same  with 
the  Isle  Fichet  of  Sanson,  and  the  Fishot  Island  of  some  modern  maps. 
A  curious  legend  connected  with  it  will  be  given  hereafter. 


192  EAKLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1506-1518. 

the  Indians,  had  seen  them  so  tormented  by  these 
infernal  persecutors,  that  they  would  fall  into  his 
arms  for  relief ;  on  which,  repeating  a  passage  of 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  he  had  driven  the  imps  of 
darkness  to  a  speedy  exodus.  They  are  comely  to 
look  upon,  he  further  tells  us,  yet,  by  reason  of 
their  malice,  that  island  is  of  late  abandoned,  and 
all  who  dwelt  there  have  fled  for  refuge  to  the 
main.^ 

While  French  fishermen  plied  their  trade  along 
these  gloomy  coasts,  the  French  government  spent 
its  energies  on  a  different  field.  The  vitality  of 
the  kingdom  was  wasted  in  Italian  wars.  Milan 
and  Naples  offered  a  more  tempting  prize  than 
the  wilds  of  Baccalaos.^  Eager  for  glory  and  for 
plunder,  a  swarm  of  restless  nobles  followed  their 
knight-errant  King,  the  would-be  paladin,  who, 
misshapen  in  body  and  fantastic  in  mind,  had  yet 
the  power  to  raise  a  storm  which  the  lapse  of 
generations  could  not  quell.  Under  Charles  the 
Eighth  and  his  successor,  war  and  intrigue  ruled 
the  day ;  and  in  the  whirl  of  Italian  politics  there 
was  no  leisure  to  think  of  a  new  world. 

Yet  private  enterprise  w^as  not  quite  benumbed. 
In  1506,  one  Denis  of  Honfleur  explored  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence ;  ^  two  years  later,  Aubert  of 
Dieppe  followed  on  his  track;*    and  in  1518,  the 

1  Thevet,  Cosmographie  (1575),  II.  c.  5.  A  very  rare  book.  I  am 
indebted  to  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan  for  copies  of  the  passages  iu  it  relating 
to  subjects  wathin  the  scope  of  the  present  work.  Thevet  here  contradicts 
himself  in  regard  to  the  position  of  the  haunted  island,  which  he  places  at 
60°  north  latitude. 

2  See  ante,  p.  189,  note  1. 

*  Parmentier  in  Ramusio,  III.  423;  Estancelin,  42-222.  *  Ibid. 


1515]  VERRAZZANO.  193 

Baron  de  Lery  made  an  abortive  attempt  at  set- 
tlement on  Sable  Island,  where  the  cattle  left  by 
him  remained  and  multiplied.^ 

The  crown  passed  at  length  to  Francis  of  An- 
gouleme.  There  were  in  his  nature  seeds  of 
nobleness,  —  seeds  destined  to  bear  little  fruit. 
Chivalry  and  honor  were  always  on  his  lips ;  but 
Francis  the  First,  a  forsworn  gentleman,  a  des- 
potic king,  vainglorious,*  selfish,  sunk  in  debauch- 
eries, was  but  the  type  of  an  era  which  retained 
the  forms  of  the  Middle  Age  without  its  soul,  and 
added  to  a  still  prevailing  barbarism  the  pestilen- 
tial vices  which  hung  fog-like  around  the  dawn 
of  civilization.  Yet  he  esteemed  arts  and  letters, 
and,  still  more,  coveted  the  eclat  which  they  could 
give.  The  light  which  was  beginning  to  pierce 
the  feudal  darkness  gathered  its  rays  around  his 
throne.  Italy  was  rewarding  the  robbers  who 
preyed  on  her  with  the  treasures  of  her  knowledge 
and  her  culture ;  and  Italian  genius,  of  whatever 
stamp,  found  ready  patronage  at  the  hands  of 
Francis.  Among  artists,  philosophers,  and  men 
of  letters  enrolled  in  his  service  stands  the  hum- 
bler name  of  a  Florentine  navigator,  John  Ver- 
razzano. 

He  was  born  of  an  ancient  family,  which  could 
boast  names  eminent  in  Florentine  history,  and 
of  which  the  last  survivor  died  in  1819.  He  has 
been  called  a  pirate,  and  he  was  such  in  the  same 
sense  in  which  Drake,  Hawkins,  and  other  valiant 
sea-rovers  of  his  own  and  later  times,  merited  the 

1  Lescarbot,  I.  22 ;  De  Laet,  Novus  Orhis,  39;  Bergeron,  c.  15. 
13 


194  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1524. 

name ;  that  is  to  say,  lie  would  plunder  and  kill  a 
Spaniard  on  the  high  seas  without  waiting  for  a 
declaration  of  war. 

The  wealth  of  the  Indies  was  pouring  into  the 
coffers  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  the  exploits  of 
Cortes  had  given  new  lustre  to  his  crown.  Fran- 
cis the  First  begrudged  his  hated  rival  the  glories 
and  profits  of  the  New  World.  He  would  fain 
have  his  share  of  the  prize ;  and  Verrazzano,  with 
four  ships,  was  despatched  to  seek  out  a  passage 
westward  to  the  rich  kingdom  of  Cathay. 

Some  doubt  has  of  late  been  cast  on  the  reality 
of  this  voyage  of  Verrazzano,  and  evidence,  mainly 
negative  in  kind,  has  been  adduced  to  prove  the 
story  of  it  a  fabrication ;  but  the  difficulties  of 
incredulity  appear  greater  than  those  of  belief, 
and  no  ordinary  degree  of  scepticism  is  required 
to  reject  the  evidence  that  the  narrative  is  essen- 
tially true.^ 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1523,  his  four 
ships  sailed  from  Dieppe ;  but  a  storm  fell  upon 
him,  and,  with  two  of  the  vessels,  he  ran  back  in 
distress  to  a  port  of  Brittany.  What  became  of 
the  other  two  does  not  appear.  Neither  is  it  clear 
why,  after  a  preliminary  cruise  against  the  Span- 
iards, he  pursued  his  voyage  with  one  vessel  alone, 
a  caravel  called  the  Dauphine.  With  her  he  made 
for  Madeira,  and,  on  the  seventeenth  of  January, 
1524,  set  sail  from  a  barren  islet  in  its  neighbor- 
hood, and  bore  away  for  the  unknown  world.  In 
forty-nine  days  they  neared  a  low  shore,  not  far 

1  See  uote,  end  of  chapter. 


1624.]  VERRAZZANO.  195 

from  the  site  of  Wilmington  in  North  Carolina, 
"a  newe  land,"  exclaims  the  voyager,  "never  be- 
fore seen  of  any  man,  either  auncient  or  mod- 
erne."^  Verrazzano  steered  southward  in  search 
of  a  harbor,  and,  finding  none,  turned  northward 
again.  Presently  he  sent  a  boat  ashore.  The  in- 
habitants, who  liad  fled  at  first,  soon  came  down 
to  the  strand  in  wonder  and  admiration,  pointing 
out  a  landing-place,  and  making  gestures  of  friend- 
shij).  "These  people,"  says  Verrazzano,  "goe 
altogether  naked,  except  only  certain  skinnes  of 
beastes  like  unto  marterns  [martens],  which  they 
fasten  onto  a  narrowe  girdle  made  of  grasse. 
They  are  of  colour  russet,  and  not  much  unlike 
the  Saracens,  their  hayre  blacke,  thicke,  and  not 
very  long,  which  they  tye  togeather  in  a  knot 
behinde,  and  weare  it  like  a  taile."^ 

He  describes  the  shore  as  consisting  of  small 
low  hillocks  of  fine  sand,  intersected  by  creeks 
and  inlets,  and  beyond  these  a  country  "full  of 
Palme  [pine  ?]  trees,  Bay  trees,  and  high  Cypresse 
trees,  and  many  other  sortes  of  trees,  vnknowne 
in  Europe,  which  yeeld  most  sweete  sauours,  farre 
from  the  shore."  Still  advancing  northward,  Ver- 
razzano sent  a  boat  for  a  supply  of  water.  The 
surf  ran  high,  and  the  crew  could  not  land  ;  but 
an  adventurous  young  sailor  jumped  overboard 
and  swam  shoreward  with  a  gift  of  beads  and- 
trinkets  for  the  Indians,  who  stood  watching  him. 
His  heart  failed  as  he  drew  near ;  he  flung  his  gift 

1  Hakluyt's  translation  from  Ramusio,  in  Divers  Voyages  (1582). 

2  Ibid. 


196  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1524, 

among  them,  turned,  and  struck  out  for  the  boat. 
The  surf  dashed  him  back,  flinging  him  with  vio- 
lence on  the  beach  among  the  recipients  of  his 
bounty,  who  seized  him  by  the  arms  and  legs,  and, 
while  he  called  lustily  for  aid,  answered  him  with 
outcries  designed  to  allay  his  terrors.  Next  they 
kindled  a  great  fire,  —  doubtless  to  roast  and  de- 
vour him  before  the  eyes  of  his  comrades,  gazing 
in  horror  from  their  boat.  On  the  contrary,  they 
carefully  warmed  him,  and  were  trying  to  dry  his 
clothes,  when,  recovering  from  his  bewilderment, 
he  betrayed  a  strong  desire  to  escape  to  his  friends  ; 
whereupon,  "  with  great  love,  clapping  him  fast 
about,  with  many  embracings,"  they  led  him  to 
the  shore,  and  stood  watching  till  he  had  reached 
the  boat. 

It  only  remained  to  requite  this  kindness,  and 
an  opportunity  soon  occurred  ;  for,  coasting  the 
shores  of  Virginia  or  Maryland,  a  party  went  on 
shore  and  found  an  old  woman,  a  young  girl,  and 
several  children,  hiding  with  great  terror  in  the 
grass.  Having,  by  various  blandishments,  gained 
their  confidence,  they  carried  off  one  of  the  chil- 
dren as  a  curiosity,  and,  since  the  girl  was  comely, 
would  fain  have  taken  her  also,  but  desisted  by 
reason  of  her  continual  screaming. 

Verrazzano's  next  resting-place  was  the  Bay  of 
"New  York.  Rowing  up  in  his  boat  through  the 
Narrows,  under  the  steep  heights  of  Staten  Island, 
he  saw  the  harbor  within  dotted  with  canoes  of 
the  feathered  natives,  coming  from  the  shore  to 
welcome  him.     But  what  most  engaged  the  eyes 


1524.]  VERRAZZANO.  197 

of  the  white  men  were  the  fancied  sio;ns  of  mineral 
wealth  in  the  neighboring  hills. 

Following  the  shores  of  Long  Island,  they  came 
to  an  island,  which  may  have  been  Block  Island, 
and  thence  to  a  harbor,  which  was  probably  that 
of  Newport.  Here  they  stayed  fifteen  days,  most 
courteously  received  by  the  inhabitants.  Among 
others  appeared  two  chiefs,  gorgeously  arrayed  in 
painted  deer-skins,  —  kings,  as  Verrazzano  calls 
them,  with  attendant  gentlemen ;  while  a  party 
of  squaws  in  a  canoe,  kept  by  their  jealous  lords 
at  a  safe  distance  from  the  caravel,  figure  in  the 
narrative  as  the  queen  and  her  maids.  The  In- 
dian wardrobe  had  been  taxed  to  its  utmost  to  do 
the  strangers  honor  ;  —  copper  bracelets,  lynx- 
skins,  raccoon-skins,  and  faces  bedaubed  with 
gaudy  colors. 

Again  they  spread  their  sails,  and  on  the  fifth 
of  May  bade  farewell  to  the  primitive  hospitalities 
of  Newport,  steered  along  the  rugged  coasts  of 
New  England,  and  surveyed,  ill  pleased,  the  surf- 
beaten  rocks,  the  pine  tree  and  the  fir,  the  shadows 
and  the  gloom  of  mighty  forests.  Here  man  and 
nature  alike  were  savage  and  repellent.  Perhaps 
some  plundering  straggler  from  the  fishing-banks, 
some  man-stealer  like  the  Portuguese  Cortereal, 
or  some  kidnapper  of  children  and  ravisher  of 
squaws  like  themselves,  had  warned  the  denizens 
of  the  woods  to  beware  of  the  worshippers  of 
Christ.  Their  only  intercourse  was  in  the  way  of 
trade.  From  the  brink  of  the  rocks  which  over- 
hung the  sea  the  Indians  would  let  down  a  cord  to 


198  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1524. 

the  boat  below,  demand  fish-hooks,  knives,  and 
steel,  in  barter  for  their  furs,  and,  their  bargain 
made,  salute  the  voyagers  with  unseemly  gestures 
of  derision  and  scorn.  The  French  once  ventured 
ashore ;  but  a  war-whoop  and  a  shower  of  arrows 
sent  them  back  to  their  boats. 

Verrazzano  coasted  the  seaboard  of  Maine,  and 
sailed  northward  as  far  as  Newfoundland,  whence, 
provisions  failing,  he  steered  for  France.  He  had 
not  found  a  passage  to  Cathay,  but  he  had  ex- 
plored the  American  coast  from  the  thirty-fourth 
degree  to  the  fiftieth,  and  at  various  points  had 
penetrated  several  leagues  into  the  country.  On 
the  eighth  of  July,  he  wrote  from  Dieppe  to  the 
King  the  earliest  description  known  to  exist  of 
the  shores  of  the  United  States. 

Great  was  the  joy  that  hailed  his  arrival,  and 
great  were  the  hopes  of  emolument  and  wealth 
from  the  new-found  shores.^  The  merchants  of 
Lyons  were  in  a  flush  of  expectation.  For  himself, 
he  was  earnest  to  return,  plant  a  colony,  and  bring 
the  heathen  tribes  within  the  pale  of  the  Church. 
But  the  time  was  inauspicious.  The  year  of  his 
voyage  was  to  France  a  year  of  disasters,  —  defeat 
in  Italy,  the  loss  of  Milan,  the  death  of  the  heroic 
Bayard  ;  and,  while  Verrazzano  was  writing  his 
narrative  at  Dieppe,  the  traitor  Bourbon  was  in- 
vading Provence.  Preparation,  too,  was  soon  on 
foot  for  the  expedition  which,  a  few  months  later, 
ended  in  the  captivity  of  Francis  on  the  field  of 
Pavia.     Without  a  king,  without  an  army,  with- 

1  Fernando  Carii  a  suo  Padre,  4  Aug-,  1524. 


1527.1  CHABOT.  199 

out  money,  convulsed  within,  and  threatened  from 
without,  France  after  that  humiliation  was  in  no 
condition  to  renew  her  Transatlantic  enterprise. 

Henceforth  few  traces  remain  of  the  fortunes  of 
Verrazzano.  Ramusio  affirms,  that,  on  another 
voyage,  he  was  killed  and  eaten  by  savages,  in 
sight  of  his  followers ;  ^  and  a  late  writer  hazards 
the  conjecture  that  this  voyage,  if  made  at  all, 
was  made  in  the  service  of  Henry  the  Eighth  of 
England.^  But  a  Spanish  writer  affirms  that,  in 
1527,  he  was  hanged  at  Puerto  del  Pico  as  a 
pirate,^  and  this  assertion  is  fully  confirmed  by 
authentic  documents  recently  brought  to  light. 

The  fickle-minded  King,  always  ardent  at  the 
outset  of  an  enterprise  and  always  flagging  before 
its  close,  divided,  moreover,  between  the  smiles  of 
his  mistresses  and  the  assaults  of  his  enemies, 
might  probably  have  dismissed  the  New  World 
from  his  thoughts.  But  among  the  favorites  of 
his  youth  was  a  high-spirited  young  noble,  Phi- 
lippe de  Brion-Chabot,  the  partner  of  his  joustings 
and  tennis-playing,  his  gaming  and  gallantries.* 
He  still  stood  high  in  the  royal  favor,  and,  after 
the  treacherous  escape  of  Francis  from  captivity, 
held  the  office  of  Admiral  of  France.  When  the 
kingdom  had  rallied  in  some  measure  from  its 
calamities,  he  conceived  the  purpose  of  following 
up  the  path  which  Verrazzano  had  opened. 

1  Ramusio,  III.  417;  Wytfleit,  185.     Compare  Le  Clerc,  £tablissment 
de  la  Foy,  I.  6. 

2  Biddle,  Memoir  of  Cahot,  275. 

<*  Barcia,  Evsaijo  Cronologico,  8.  , 

*  Brantome,  II.  277 ;  Biographic  Universelle ,  Art.  Chabot. 


200  EARLY   FRENCH   ADVENTURE.  [1534. 

The  ancient  town  of  St.  Malo,  thrust  out  like  a 
buttress  into  the  sea,  strange  and  grim  oi  aspect, 
breathing  war  from  its  walls  and  battlements  of 
ragged  stone,  a  stronghold  of  privateers,  the  home 
of  a  race  whose  intractable  and  defiant  indepen- 
dence neither  time  nor  change  has  subdued,  has 
been  for  centuries  a  nursery  of  hardy  mariners. 
Among  the  earliest  and  most  eminent  on  its  list 
stands  the  name  of  Jacques  Cartier.  His  portrait 
hangs  in  the  town-hall  of  St.  Malo,  —  bold,  keen 
features  bespeaking  a  spirit  not  apt  to  quail  before 
the  wrath  of  man  or  of  the  elements.  In  him 
Chabot  found  a  fit  agent  of  his  design,  if,  indeed, 
its  suggestion  is  not  due  to  the  Breton  navigator.^ 

Sailing  from  St.  Malo  on  the  twentieth  of  April, 
1534,  Cartier  steered  for  Newfoundland,  passed 
through  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  entered  the 
Gulf  of  Chaleurs,  planted  a  cross  at  Gaspe,  and, 
never  doubting  that  he  was  on  the  high  road 
to  Cathay,  advanced  up  the  St.  Lawrence  till 
he  saw  the  shores  of  Anticosti.  But  autumnal 
storms  were  gathering.  The  voyagers  took  coun- 
sel together,  turned  their  prows  eastward,  and  bore 
away  for  France,  carrying  thither,  as  a  sample  of 
the  natural  products  of  the  New  World,  two  young 
Indians,  lured  into  their  clutches  by  an  act  of  vil- 
lanous  treachery.  The  voyage  was  a  mere  recon- 
noissance.^ 

^  Cartier  was  at  this  time  forty  years  of  age,  having  been  born  in  De- 
cember, 1494.  I  examined  the  St.  Malo  portrait  in  1881.  It  is  a  recent 
work  (18.39),  and  its  likeness  is  more  than  doubtfnl. 

2  Lescarbot,  I.  232  (1612);  Relation  oriijimtle  (hi  Voi/arje  de  J(irquf» 
Cartier  en  15.34  (Paris,  1867);  Cartier,  Discoitrs  du  Foj/a^e,  reprinted  by 


1535.]  JACQUES  CARTIER.  201 

The  spirit  of  discovery  was  awakened.  A  pas- 
sage to  India  could  be  found,  and  a  new  France 
built  up  beyond  the  Atlantic.  Mingled  with  such 
views  of  interest  and  ambition  was  another  motive 
scarcely  less  potent.^  The  heresy  of  Luther  was 
convulsing  Germany,  and  the  deeper  heresy  of  Cal- 
vin infecting  France.  Devout  Catholics,  kindling 
with  redoubled  zeal,  would  fain  requite  the  Church 
for  her  losses  in  the  Old  World  by  winning  to  her 
fold  the  infidels  of  the  New.  But,  in  pursuing  an 
end  at  once  so  pious  and  so  politic,  Francis  the 
First  was  setting  at  naught  the  supreme  Pontiff 
himself,  since,  by  the  preposterous  bull  of  Alexan- 
der the  Sixth,  all  America  had  been  given  to  the 
Spaniards. 

In  October,  1534,  Cartier  received  from  Chabot 
another  commission,  and,  in  spite  of  secret  but  bit- 
ter opposition  from  jealous  traders  of  St.  Malo,  he 
prepared  for  a  second  voyage.  Three  vessels,  the 
largest  not  above  a  hundred  and  twenty  tons,  were 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  Claude  de  Pontbriand, 
Charles  de  la  Pommeraye,  and  other  gentlemen  of 
birth,  enrolled  themselves  for  the  adventure.  On 
the  sixteenth  of  May,  1535,  officers  and  sailors  as- 
sembled in  the  cathedral  of  St.  Malo,  where,  after 
confession  and  mass,  they  received  the  parting 
blessing  of  the  bishop.  Three  days  later  they  set 
sail.  The  dingy  walls  of  the  rude  old  seaport,  and 
the  white  rocks  that  line  the  neighboring  shores  of 

the  Literary  and  Historical  Society  of  Quebec.  Compare  trauslatious  in 
Hakluyt  and  Ramusio ;  MS.  Map  of  Cartier's  route  iu  Depot  des  Cartes, 
Carton  V. 

1  Lettre  de  Cartier  au  Roij  tres  Chretien. 


202  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1535. 

Brittany,  faded  from  their  sight,  and  soon  they 
were  tossing  in  a  furious  tempest.  The  scattered 
ships  escaped  the  danger,  and,  reuniting  at  the 
Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  steered  westward  along  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  till  they  reached  a  small  bay 
opposite  the  island  of  Anticosti.  Cartier  called  it 
the  Bay  of  St.  Lawrence,  a  name  afterwards  ex- 
tended to  the  entire  gulf,  and  to  the  great  river 
above.^ 

To  ascend  this  great  river,  and  tempt  the  haz- 

*  Cartier  calls  the  St.  Lawrence  the  "  River  of  Hochelaga,"  or  "  the 
great  river  of  Canada."  He  confines  the  name  of  Canada  to  a  district  ex- 
tending from  the  Isle  aux  Coudres  in  the  St.  Lawrence  to  a  point  at  some 
distance  above  the  site  of  Quebec.  The  country  below,  he  adds,  was  called 
by  the  Indians  Saquenay,  and  that  above,  Hochelaga.  In  the  map  of  Gerard 
Mercator  (1569)  the  name  Canada  is  given  to  a  town,  with  an  adjacent  dis- 
trict, on  the  river  Stadin  (St.  Charles).  Lescarbot,  a  later  writer,  insists 
that  the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  from  Hochelaga  to  its 
mouth,  bore  the  name  of  Canada. 

In  the  second  map  of  Ortelius,  published  about  the  year  1572,  New 
France,  Nova  Francia,  ia  thus  divided :  —  Canada,  a  district  on  the  St. 
Lawrence  above  the  River  Saguenay;  Chilaga  (Hochelaga),  the  angle  be- 
tween the  Ottawa  and  the  St.  Lawrence ;  Saijuena!,  a  district  below  the 
river  of  that  name ;  Moscusa,  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  east  of  the 
River  Richelieu ;  Avacul,  west  and  south  of  Moscosa;  NorumbegajMsime 
and  New  Brunswick ;  Apalachen,  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  etc. ;  Terra  Cor- 
tereali's,  Labi'ador ;  Florida,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida. 

Mercator  confines  the  name  of  New  France  to  districts  bordering  on 
the  St.  Lawrence.  Others  give  it  a  much  broader  application.  The  use 
of  this  name,  or  the  nearly  allied  names  of  Fraucisca  and  La  Franciscane, 
dates  back,  to  say  the  least,  as  far  as  1525,  and  the  Dutch  geographers 
are  especially  free  in  their  use  of  it,  out  of  spite  to  the  Spaniards. 

The  derivation  of  the  name  of  Canada  has  been  a  point  of  discussion. 
It  is,  without  doubt,  not  Spanish,  but  Indian.  In  the  vocabulary  of  the 
language  of  Hochelaga,  appended  to  the  journal  of  Cartier's  second  voyage, 
Canada  is  set  down  as  the  word  for  a  town  or  village.  "  lis  appellent  una 
ville,  Canada."  It  bears  the  same  meaning  in  the  Mohawk  tongue.  Both 
languages  are  dialects  of  the  Iroquois.  Lescarbot  afiirms  that  Canada  is 
simply  an  Indian  proper  name,  of  which  it  is  vain  to  seek  a  meaning. 
Belleforest  also  calls  it  an  Indian  word,  but  translates  it  "  Terre,"  as  does 
also  TheveV 


1535.]  SECOND  VOYAGE   OF  CAETIER.  203 

ards  of  its  intricate  navigation  with  no  better 
pilots  than  the  two  young  Indians  kidnapped 
the  year  before,  was  a  venture  of  no  light  risk. 
But  skill  or  fortune  prevailed ;  and,  on  the  first 
of  Septeml3er,  the  voyagers  reached  in  safety  the 
gorge  of  the  gloomy  Saguenay,  with  its  towering 
cliffs  and  sullen  depth  of  waters.  Passing  the  Isle 
aux  Coudres,  and  the  lofty  promontory  of  Cape 
Tourmente,  they  came  to  anchor  in  a  quiet  chan- 
nel between  the  northern  shore  and  the  margin  of 
a  richly  wooded  island,  where  the  trees  were  so 
thickly  hung  with  grapes  that  Cartier  named  it 
the  Island  of  Bacchus.^ 

Indians  came  swarming  from  the  shores,  paddled 
their  canoes  about  the  ships,  and  clambered  to  the 
decks  to  gaze  in  bewilderment  at  the  novel  scene, 
and  listen  to  the  story  of  their  travelled  country- 
men, marvellous  in  their  ears  as  a  visit  to  another 
planet.^  Cartier  received  them  kindly,  listened  to 
the  long  harangue  of  the  great  chief  Donnacona, 

1  Now  the  Island  of  Orleans. 

2  Doubt  has  been  thrown  on  this  part  of  Cartier's  narrative,  on  the 
ground  that  these  two  young  Indians,  who  were  captured  at  Gaspe,  could 
not  have  been  so  intimately  acquainted  as  the  journal  represents  with  the 
savages  at  the  site  of  Quebec.  From  a  subsequent  part  of  the  journal,  how- 
ever, it  appears  that  they  were  natives  of  this  place,  —  "  et  la  est  la  ville  et 
demeurance  du  Seigneur  Donnacona,  et  de  nos  deux  hommes  qu'avions 
jiris  le  premier  voyage."  This  is  curiously  confirmed  by  Thevet,  who  per- 
sonally knew  Cartier,  and  who,  in  his  Sinr/ulnn'tex  de  la  France  Antarctique, 
(]).  147,)  says  that  the  party  to  which  the  two  Indians  captured  at  Gaspe 
belonged  spoke  a  language  different  from  that  of  tlie  other  Indians  seen 
in  those  parts,  and  that  they  had  come  on  a  war  expedition  from  the  River 
Chelogua  (Hochelaga).  Compare  New  Found  Worlde  (London,  1568), 
124.  This  will  also  account  for  Lescarbot's  remark,  that  the  Indians  of 
Gaspe  had  changed  their  language  since  Cartier's  time.  The  language  of 
Stadacone',  or  Quebec,  when  Cartier  visited  it,  was  apparently  a  dialect 
of  the  Iroquois. 


204  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1535. 

regaled  him  with  bread  and  wine ;  and,  when  re- 
Heved  at  length  of  his  guests,  set  forth  in  a  boat 
to  explore  the  river  above. 

As  he  drew  near  the  opening  of  the  channel, 
the  Hochelaga  again  spread  before  him  the  broad 
expanse  of  its  waters.  A  mighty  promontory, 
rugged  and  bare,  thrust  its  scarped  front  into  the 
surging  current.  Here,  clothed  in  the  majesty  of 
solitude,  breathing  the  stern  poetry  of  the  wilder- 
ness, rose  the  cliffs  now  rich  with  heroic  memo- 
ries, where  the  fiery  Count  Frontenac  cast  defiance 
at  his  foes,  where  Wolfe,  Montcalm,  and  Mont- 
gomery fell.  As  yet,  all  was  a  nameless  barba- 
rism, and  a  cluster  of  wigwams  held  the  site  of 
the  rock-built  city  of  Quebec.^  Its  name  was 
Stadacone,  and  it  owned  the  sway  of  the  royal 
Donnacona. 

Cartier  set  out  to  visit  this  greasy  potentate, 
ascended  the  river  St.  Charles,  by  him  called  the 
St.  Croix,^  landed,  crossed  the  meadows,  climbed 
the  rocks,  threaded  the  forest,  and  emerged  upon 
a  squalid  hamlet  of  bark  cabins.  When,  having 
satisfied  their  curiosity,  he  and  his  party  were 
rowing  for  the  ships,  a  friendly  interruption  met 
them  at  the  mouth  of  the   St.  Charles.     An  old 

1  On  ground  now  covered  by  the  suburbs  of  St.  Roque  and  St.  John. 

2  Charlevoix  denies  that  the  St.  Croix  and  the  St.  Charles  are  the 
same ;  but  he  supports  his  denial  by  an  argument  which  proves  nothing 
but  his  own  gross  carelessness.  Champlain,  than  whom  no  one  was  bet- 
ter qualified  to  form  an  opinion,  distinctly  affirms  the  identity  of  the  two 
rivers.  See  his  Map  of  Quebec,  and  the  accompanying  key,  in  the  edi- 
tion of  1613.  La  Potherie  is  of  the  same  opinion;  as  also,  among  mod- 
ern writers,  Faribault  and  Fisher.  In  truth,  the  description  of  localities 
in  Cartier's  journal  cannot,  when  closely  examined,  admit  a  doubt  on  the 
subject.     See  also  Berthelot,  Dissertation  sur  le  Canon  de  Bronze 


15,15]  CARTIEK   AT  QUEBEC.  205 

chief  harangued  them  from  the  bank,  men,  boys, 
and  children  screeched  welcome  from  the  meadow, 
and  a  troop  of  hilarious  squaws  danced  knee-deep 
in  the  water.  The  gift  of  a  few  strings  of  beads 
completed  their  delight  and  redoubled  their  agil- 
ity ;  and,  from  the  distance  of  a  mile,  their  shrill 
songs  of  jubilation  still  reached  the  ears  of  the 
receding  Frenchmen. 

The  hamlet  of  Stadacone,  with  its  king,  Don- 
nacona,  and  its  naked  lords  and  princes,  was  not 
the  metropolis  of  this  forest  state,  since  a  town  far 
greater  —  so  the  Indians  averred  —  stood  by  the 
brink  of  the  river,  many  days'  journey  above.  It 
was  called  Hochelaga,  and  the  great  river  itself, 
with  a  wide  reach  of  adjacent  country,  had  bor- 
rowed its  name.  Thither,  with  his  two  young 
Indians  as  guides,  Cartier  resolved  to  go ;  but 
misgivings  seized  the  guides,  as  the  time  drew 
near,  while  Donnacona  and  his  tribesmen,  jealous 
of  the  plan,  set  themselves  to  thwart  it.  The 
Breton  captain  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  their  dis- 
suasions ;  on  which,  failing  to  touch  his  reason, 
they  appealed  to  his  fears. 

One  morning,  as  the  ships  still  lay  at  anchor, 
the  French  beheld  three  Indian  devils  descending 
in  a  canoe  towards  them,  dressed  in  black  and 
white  dog-skins,  with  faces  black  as  ink,  and  horns 
long  as  a  man's  arm.  Thus  arrayed,  they  drifted 
by,  while  the  principal  fiend,  with  fixed  eyes,  as  of 
one  piercing  the  secrets  of  futurity,  uttered  in  a 
loud  voice  a  long  harangue.  Then  they  paddled 
for  the   shore ;  and  no  sooner  did  they  reach   it 


206  EARLY   FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1535. 

than  each  fell  flat  like  a  dead  man  in  the  bottom 
of  the  canoe.  Aid,  however,  was  at  hand^  for 
Donnacona  and  his  tribesmen,  rushing  pell-mell, 
from  the  adjacent  woods,  raised  the  swooning 
masqueraders,  and,  with  shrill  clamors,  bore  them 
in  their  arms  within  the  shelterinsr  thickets. 
Here,  for  a  full  half-hour,  the  French  could  hear 
them  haranguing  in  solemn  conclave.  Then  the 
two  young  Indians  whom  Cartier  had  brought 
back  from  France  came  out  of  the  bushes,  enact- 
ing a  pantomime  of  amazement  and  terror,  clasping 
their  hands,  and  calling  on  Christ  and  the  Virgin ; 
whereupon  Cartier,  shouting  from  the  vessel,  asked 
what  was  the  matter.  They  replied,  that  the  god 
Coudouagny  had  sent  to  warn  the  French  against . 
all  attempts  to  ascend  the  great  river,  since,  should 
they  persist,  snows,  tempests,  and  drifting  ice 
would  requite  their  rashness  with  inevitable  ruin. 
The  French  replied  that  Coudouagny  was  a  fool ; 
that  he  could  not  hurt  those  who  believed  in 
Christ ;  and  that  they  might  tell  this  to  his  three 
messengers.  The  assembled  Indians,  with  little 
reverence  for  their  deity,  pretended  great  con- 
tentment at  this  assurance,  and  danced  for  joy 
along  the  beach. ^ 

Cartier  now  made  ready  to  depart.  And,  first, 
he  caused  the  two  larger  vessels  to  be  towed  for 
safe  harborage  within  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Charles. 
With  the  smallest,  a  galleon  of  forty  tons,  and  two 

^  M.  Berthelot,  in  his  Dissertation  siir  le  Canon  de  Bronze,  discovers  in 
this  Indian  pantomime  a  typical  representation  of  the  supposed  ship- 
wreck of  Verrazzano  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  This  shipwreck,  it  is  need- 
les§  to  say,  is  a  mere  imagination  of  this  ingenious  writer 


1535.]  HOCHELAGA.  207 

open  boats,  carrying  in  all  fifty  sailors,  besides 
Pontbriand,  La  Pommeraye,  and  other  gentlemen, 
he  set  out  for  Hochelega. 

Slowly  gliding  on  their  way  by  walls  of  ver- 
dure brightened  in  the  autumnal  sun,  they  saw 
forests  festooned  with  grape-vines,  and  waters 
alive  with  wild-fowl;  they  heard  the  song  of  the 
blackbird,  the  thrush,  and,  as  they  fondly  thought, 
the  nightingale.  The  galleon  grounded ;  they  left 
her,  and,  advancing  with  the  boats  alone,  on  the 
second  of  October  neared  the  goal  of  their  hopes, 
the  mysterious  Hochelaga. 

Just  below  where  now  are  seen  the  quays 
and  storehouses  of  Montreal,  a  thousand  Indians 
thronged  the  shore,  wild  with  delight,  dancing, 
singing,  crowding  about  the  strangers,  and  show- 
ering into  the  boats  their  gifts  of  fish  and  maize ; 
and,  as  it  grew  dark,  fires  lighted  up  the  night, 
while,  far  and  near,  the  French  could  see  the  ex- 
cited savages  leaping  and  rejoicing  by  the  blaze. 

At  dawn  of  day,  marshalled  and  accoutred, 
they  marched  for  Hochelaga.  An  Indian  path  led 
them  through  the  forest  which  covered  the  site 
of  Montreal.  The  morning  air  was  chill  and 
sharp,  the  leaves  were  changing  hue,  and  beneath 
the  oaks  the  ground  was  thickly  strewn  with 
acorns.  They  soon  met  an  Indian  chief  with  a 
party  of  tribesmen,  or,  as  the  old  narrative  has 
it,  "  one  of  the  principal  lords  of  the  said  city," 
attended    with    a    numerous    retinue.-^      Greeting 

^  " .  .  .  .  I'un  des  principaulx  seigneurs  de  la  dicte  ville,  accompaignc 
de  plusieurs  personnes."    Cartier  (1545),  23. 


208  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1535. 

them  after  the  concise  courtesy  of  the  forest,  he 
led  them  to  a  fire  kindled  by  the  side  of  the 
path  for  their  comfort  and  refreshment,  seated 
them  on  the  ground,  and  made  them  a  long  ha- 
rangue, receiving  in  requital  of  his  eloquence 
two  hatchets,  two  knives,  and  a  crucifix,  the  last 
of  which  he  was  invited  to  kiss.  This  done,  they 
resumed  their  march,  and  presently  came  upon 
open  fields,  covered  far  and  near  with  the  ripened 
maize,  its  leaves  rustling,  and  its  yellow  grains 
gleaming  between  the  parting  husks.  Before 
them,  wrapped  in  forests  painted  by  the  early 
frosts,  rose  the  ridgy  back  of  the  Mountain  of 
Montreal,  and  below,  encompassed  with  its  corn- 
fields, lay  the  Indian  town.  Nothing  was  visible 
but  its  encircling  palisades.  They  were  of  trunks 
of  trees,  set  in  a  triple  row.  The  outer  and  in- 
ner ranges  inclined  till  they  met  and  crossed  near 
the  summit,  while  the  upright  row  between  them, 
aided  by  transverse  braces,  gave  to  the  whole  an 
abundant  strength.  Within  were  galleries  for  the 
defenders,  rude  ladders  to  mount  them,  and  mag- 
azines of  stones  to  throw  down  on  the  heads  of 
assailants.  It  was  a  mode  of  fortification  prac- 
tised by  all  the  tribes  speaking  dialects  of  the 
Iroquois.^ 

1  That  the  Indians  of  Hochelaga  belonged  to  the  Huron-Iroquois 
family  of  tribes  is  evident  from  the  affinities  of  their  language,  (compare 
Gallatin,  Synopsis  of  Indian  Tribes,)  and  from  the  construction  of  their 
houses  and  defensive  works.  This  was  identical  with  tlie  construction 
universal,  or  nearly  so,  among  the  Huron-Iroquois  tribes.  In  Ramu- 
sio,  III.  446,  there  is  a  plan  of  Hochelaga  and  its  defences,  marked  by 
errors  which  seem  to  show  that  the  maker  had  not  seen  the  objects  repre- 
sented.    Whence  the  sketch  was  derived  does  not  appear,  as  the  original 


1535]  HOCHELAGA.  209 

The  voyagers  entered  the  narrow  portaL  Within, 
they  saw  some  fifty  of  those  lai'ge  oblong  dwell- 
ings so  familiar  in  after  years  to  the  eyes  of  the 
Jesuit  apostles  in  Iroquois  and  Huron  forests. 
They  were  about  fifty  yards  in  length,  and  twelve 
or  fifteen  wide,  framed  of  sapling  poles  closely 
covered  with  sheets  of  bark,  and  each  containing 
several  fires  and  several  families.  In  the  midst 
of  the  town  was  an  open  area,  or  public  square, 
a  stone's  throw  in  width.  Here  Cartier  and  his 
followers  stopped,  while  the  surrounding  houses  of 

edition  of  Cartier  does  not  contain  it.  In  1860,  a  quantity  of  Indian 
remains  were  dug  up  at  Montreal,  immediately  below  Sherbrooke  Street, 
between  Mansfield  and  Metcalfe  Streets.  (See  a  paper  by  Dr.  Dawson,  in 
Canadian  Naturalist  and  Geolocjist,  V.  430.)  They  may  perhaps  indicate 
the  site  of  Hochelaga.  A  few,  which  have  a  distinctive  character,  belong 
not  to  the  Algonquin,  but  to  the  Huron-Iroquois  type.  The  short-.stemmed 
pipe  of  terra-cotta  is  the  exact  counterpart  of  those  found  in  the  great 
Huron  deposits  of  the  dead  in  Canada  West,  and  in  Iroquois  burial-places 
of  Western  New  York.  So  also  of  the  fragments  of  pottery  and  the  in- 
struments of  bone  used  in  ornamenting  it. 

The  assertion  of  certain  Algonquius,  who,  in  1 642,  told  the  missiona- 
ries that  their  ancestors  once  lived  at  Montreal,  is  far  from  conclusive 
evidence.  It  may  have  referred  to  an  occupancy  subsequent  to  Car- 
tier's  visit,  or,  which  is  more  probable,  the  Indians,  after  their  favorite 
practice,  may  have  amused  themselves  with  "  hoaxing "  their  inter- 
locutors. 

Cartier  calls  his  vocabulary,  Le  Lanrjage  des  Pays  et  Roi/aulmes  de 
Hochelaija  et  Canada,  aultrement  appellee  par  nous  la  Nouuelle  France 
(ed.  1545).  For  tliis  and  other  reasons  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the 
Indians  of  Quebec,  or  Stadaconc,  were  also  of  the  Huron-Iroquois  race, 
since  by  Canada  he  means  the  country  about  Quebec.  Seventy  years 
later,  the  whole  region  was  occupied  by  Algonquins,  and  no  trace  re- 
mained of  Hochelaga  or  Stadacone. 

There  was  a  tradition  among  the  Agnics  (Mohawks),  one  of  the  five 
tribes  of  the  Iroquois,  that  their  ancestors  were  once  settled  at  Quebec. 
See  Lafitau,  I.  101.  Canada,  as  already  mentioned,  is  a  Mohawk  word. 
The  tradition  recorded  by  Colden,  in  his  Ilistori/  of  the  Five  Xations  (Iro- 
quois), that  they  were  formerly  settled  near  Montreal,  is  of  interest  here. 
The  tradition  declares  that  they  were  driven  thence  by  the  Adiroudacks 
(Algonquins). 

14 


210  EARLY   FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1535. 

bark  disgorged  their  inmates,  —  swarms  of  chil- 
dren, and  young  women  and  old,  their  infants  in 
their  arms.  They  crowded  about  the  visitors,  cry- 
ing for  delight,  touching  their  becrds,  feeling  their 
faces,  and  holding  up  the  screeching  infants  to  be 
touched  in  turn.  The  marvellous  visitors,  strange 
in  hue,  strange  in  attire,  with  moustached  lip  and 
bearded  chin,  with  arquebuse,  halberd,  hehiiet,  and 
cuirass,  seemed  rather  demigods  than  men. 

Due  time  having;  been  allowed  for  this  exuber- 
ance  of  feminine  rapture,  the  warriors  interposed, 
banished  the  women  and  children  to  a  distance,  and 
squatted  on  the  ground  around  the  French,  row 
within  row  of  swarthy  forms  and  eager  faces,  "  as 
if,"  says  Cartier,  "  we  were  going  to  act  a  play."  ^ 
Then  appeared  a  troop  of  women,  each  bringing  a 
mat,  with  which  they  carpeted  the  bare  earth  for 
the  behoof  of  their  guests.  The  latter  being  seated, 
the  chief  of  the  nation  was  borne  before  them  on  a 
deer-skin  by  a  number  of  his  tribesmen,  a  bedridden 
old  savage,  paralyzed  and  helpless,  squalid  as  the 
rest  in  his  attire,  and  distinguished  only  by  a  red 
fillet,  inwrought  with  the  dyed  quills  of  the  Canada 
porcupine,  encircling  his  lank  black  hair.  They 
placed  him  on  the  ground  at  Cartier's  feet  and 
made  signs  of  welcome  for  him,  while  he  pointed 
feebly  to  his  powerless  limbs,  and  implored  the 
healing  touch  from  the  hand  of  the  French  chief. 
Cartier  complied,  and  received  in  acknowledgment 
the  red  fillet  of  his  grateful  patient.     Then  from 

1  "...  .  comme  sy  eussions  voulu  iouer  vng  mystere."  Cartier,  25 
(1545). 


1535]  HOCHELAGA.  211 

surrounding  dwellings  appecared  a  woful  throng, 
the  sick,  the  lame,  the  blind,  the  maimed,  the  de- 
crepit, brought  or  led  forth  and  placed  on  the  earth 
before  the  perplexed  commander,  "as  if,"  he  says, 
"  a  god  had  come  down  to  cure  them."  His  skill 
in  mediciDC  being  far  behind  the  emergency,  he 
pronounced  over  his  petitioners  a  portion  of  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John,  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 
uttered  a  prayer,  not  for  their  bodies  only,  but  for 
their  miserable  souls.  Next  he  read  the  passion  of 
the  Saviour,  to  which,  though  comprehending  not 
a  word,  his  audience  listened  with  grave  attention. 
Then  came  a  distribution  of  presents.  The  squaws 
and  children  were  recalled,  and,  with  the  warriors, 
placed  in  separate  groups.  Knives  and  hatchets 
were  given  to  the  men,  and  beads  to  the  women, 
while  pewter  rings  and  images  of  the  Agnus  Dei 
were  flung  among  the  troop  of  children,  whence 
ensued  a  vigorous  scramble  in  the  square  of  Hoche- 
laga.  Now  the  French  trumpeters  pressed  their 
trumpets  to  their  lips,  and  blew  a  blast  that 
filled  the  air  with  warlike  din  and  the  hearts  of 
the  hearers  with  amazement  and  delisrht.  Bid- 
ding  their  hosts  farewell,  the  visitors  formed  their 
ranks  and  defiled  through  the  gate  once  more, 
despite  the  efforts  of  a  crowd  of  women,  who,  with 
clamorous  hospitality,  beset  them  with  gifts  of  fish, 
beans,  corn,  and  other  viands  of  uninviting  aspect, 
which  the  Frenchmen  courteously  declined. 

A  troop  of  Indians  followed,  and  guided  them  to 
the  top  of  the  neighboring  mountain.  Cartier 
called  it  Mont  Royal,  Montreal;  and  hence  the 


212  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1535. 

name  of  the  busy  city  which  now  holds  the  site  of 
the  vanished  Hochelaga.  Stadacone  and  Hoche- 
laga,  Quebec  and  Montreal,  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury as  in  the  nineteenth,  were  the  centres  of 
Canadian  population. 

From  the  summit,  that  noble  prospect  met  his 
eye  which  at  this  day  is  the  delight  of  tourists,  but 
strangely  changed,  since,  first  of  white  men,  the 
Breton  voyager  gazed  upon  it.  Tower  and  dome 
and  spire,  congregated  roofs,  white  sail  and  gliding 
steamer,  animate  its  vast  expanse  with  varied  life. 
Cartier  saw  a  different  scene.  East,  west,  and 
south,  the  mantling  forest  was  over  all,  and  the 
broad  blue  ribbon  of  the  great  river  glistened  amid 
a  realm  of  verdure.  Beyond,  to  the  bounds  of 
Mexico,  stretched  a  leafy  desert,  and  the  vast  hive 
of  industry,  the  mighty  battle-ground  of  later  cen- 
turies, lay  sunk  in  savage  torpor,  wrapped  in  illim- 
itable woods. 

The  French  re-embarked,  bade  farewell  to  Hoch- 
elaga, retraced  their  lonely  course  down  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  reached  Stadacone  in  safety.  On 
the  bank  of  the  St.  Charles,  their  companions  had 
louilt  in  their  absence  a  fort  of  palisades,  and  the 
ships,  hauled  up  the  little  stream,  lay  moored  be- 
fore it.^  Here  the  self-exiled  company  were  soon 
besieged  by  the  rigors  of  the  Canadian  winter. 
The  rocks,  the  shores,  the  pine  trees,  the  solid  floor 

^  In  1608,  Cham  plain  found  the  remains  of  Cartier's  fort.  See  Cham- 
plain  (1613),  184-191.  Charlevoix  is  clearly  wrong  as  to  the  locality. 
M.  Faribault,  who  has  collected  the  evidence,  (see  Voijaqe.s  de  Deconverte 
ail  Canada,  109-119,)  thinks  the  fort  was  near  the  junction  of  the  little 
river  Lairet  with  the  St.  Charles. 


1535,  1536.]  WINTER   MISERIES.  213 

of  the  frozen  river,  all  alike  were  blanketed  in 
snow,  beneath  the  keen  cold  rays  of  the  dazzling 
sun.  The  drifts  rose  above  the  sides  of  their  ships  ; 
masts,  spars,  and  cordage  were  thick  with  glitter- 
ing incrustations  and  sparkling  rows  of  icicles ;  a 
frosty  armor,  four  inches  thick,  encased  'the  bul- 
warks. Yet,  in  the  bitterest  weather,  the  neigh- 
boring Indians,  "hardy,"  says  the  journal,  "as  so 
many  beasts,"  came  daily  to  the  fort,  wading,  half 
naked,  waist-deep  through  the  snow.  At  length, 
their  friendship  began  to  abate ;  their  visits  grew 
less  frequent,  and  during  December  had  wholly 
ceased,  when  a  calamity  fell  upon  the  French. 

A  malignant  scurvy  broke  out  among  them. 
Man  after  man  went  down  before  the  hideous  dis- 
ease, till  twenty-five  were  dead,  and  only  three  or 
four  were  left  in  health.  The  sound  were  too  few 
to  attend  the  sick,  and  the  wretched  sufferers  lay 
in  helpless  despair,  dreaming  of  the  sun  and  the 
vines  of  France.  The  ground,  hard  as  flint,  defied 
their  feeble  efforts,  and,  unable  to  bury  their  dead, 
they  hid  them  in  snow-drifts.  Cartier  appealed  to 
the  saints ;  but  they  turned  a  deaf  ear.  Then  he 
nailed  against  a  tree  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  and 
on  a  Sunday  summoned  forth  his  woe-begone  fol- 
lowers, who,  haggard,  reeling,  bloated  with  their 
maladies,  moved  in  procession  to  the  spot,  and, 
kneeling  in  the  snow,  sang  litanies  and  psalms 
of  David.  That  day  died  Philippe  Rougemont, 
of  Amboise,  aged  twenty-two  years.  The  Holy 
Virgin  deigned  no  other  response. 

There  was  fear  that  the  Indians,  learning  their 


214  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1536. 

misery,  miglit  finish  the  work  that  scurvy  had 
begun.  None  of  them,  therefore,  were  allowed  to 
approach  the  fort ;  and  when  a  party  of  savages 
lingered  within  hearing,  Cartier  forced  his  invalid 
garrison  to  beat  with  sticks  and  stones  against  the 
walls,  that  their  dangerous  neighbors,  deluded  by 
the  clatter,  might  think  them  engaged  in  hard 
labor.  These  objects  of  their  fear  proved,  how- 
ever, the  instruments  of  their  salvation.  Cartier, 
walking  one  day  near  the  river,  met  an  Indian, 
who  not  long  before  had  been  prostrate,  like  many 
of  his  fellows,  with  the  scurvy,  but  who  was  now, 
to  all  appearance,  in  high  health  and  spirits. 
What  agency  had  wrought  this  marvellous  recov- 
ery ?  According  to  the  Indian,  it  was  a  certain 
evergreen,  called  by  him  ameda^  a  decoction  of  the 
leaves  of  which  was  sovereign  against  the  disease. 
The  experiment  was  tried.  The  sick  men  drank 
copiously  of  the  healing  draught,  —  so  copiously 
indeed  that  in  six  days  they  drank  a  tree  as  large 
as  a  French  oak.  Thus  vigorously  assailed,  the 
distemper  relaxed  its  hold,  and  health  and  hope 
began  to  revisit  the  hapless  company. 

When  this  winter  of  misery  had  worn  away,  and 
the  ships  were  thawed  from  their  icy  fetters,  Car- 
tier  prepared  to  return.  He  had  made  notable  dis- 
coveries ;  but  these  were  as  nothing  to  the  tales  of 
wonder  that  had  reached  his  ear,  —  of  a  land  of 
gold  and  rubies,  of  a  nation  white  like  the  French, 

1  Ameda,  in  the  edition  of  1545;  annedda,  in  Lescarbot,  Ternaux- 
Compans,  and  Faribault.  The  wonderful  tree  seems  to  have  been  a  spruce, 
or,  more  probably,  an  arbor-vitae. 


1536]  KIDNAPPING.  215 

of  men  who  lived  without  food,  and  of  others  to 
whom  Nature  had  granted  but  one  leg.  Should  he 
stake  his  credit  on  these  marvels  ?  It  were  better 
that  they  who  had  recounted  them  to  him  should, 
with  their  own  lips,  recount  them  also  to  the  King, 
and  to  this  end  he  resolved  that  Donnacona  and 
his  chiefs  should  go  with  him  to  court.  He  lured 
them  therefore  to  the  fort,  and  led  them  into  an 
ambuscade  of  sailors,  who,  seizing  the  astonished 
guests,  hurried  them  on  board  the  ships.  Hav- 
ing accomplished  this  treachery,  the  voyagers  pro- 
ceeded to  plant  the  emblem  of  Christianity.  The 
cross  was  raised,  the  fleur-de-lis  planted  near  it, 
and,  spreading  their  sails,  they  steered  for  home. 
It  was  the  sixteenth  of  July,  1536,  when  Cartier 
again  cast  anchor  under  the  walls  of  St.  Malo.^ 

A  rigorous  climate,  a  savage  people,  a  fatal  dis- 
ease, and  a  soil  barren  of  gold  were  the  allurements 
of  New  France.  Nor  were  the  times  auspicious  for 
a  renewal  of  the  enterprise.  Charles  the  Fifth, 
flushed  with  his  African  triumphs,  challenged  the 
Most  Christian  King  to  single  combat.  The  war 
flamed  forth  with  renewed  fury,  and  ten  years 
elapsed  before  a  hollow  truce  varnished  the  hate  of 
the  royal  rivals  with  a  thin  pretence  of  courtesy. 
Peace  returned ;  but  Francis  the  First  was  sinking 


1  Of  the  original  edition  (1545)  of  the  narrative  of  this  voyage  only- 
one  copy  is  known,  —  that  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  styled,  Brief 
Recit,  ^-  succinde  narration,  de  la  naimjation  faicte  es  ysles  de  Canada,  Hoche- 
lage  Sf  Suguenai/  tf-  autres,  auec  parlicidieres  metirs,  langaige,  Sf  ceremonies 
des  hahitans  d'icelles:  fort  delectable  a  veoir.  As  may  be  gathered  from 
the  title,  the  style  and  orthography  are  those  of  the  days  of  Rabelais.  It 
has  been  reprinted  (1863)  with  valuable  notes  by  M.  d'Avezac. 


216  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1540. 

to  his  ignominious  grave,  under  the  scourge  of  his 
favorite  goddess,  and  Chabot,  patron  of  the  former 
voyages,  was  in  disgrace.-^ 

Meanwhile  the  ominous  adventure  of  New 
France  had  found  a  champion  in  the  person  of 
Jean  Francois  de  la  Roque,  Sieiir  de  Roberval,  a 
nobleman  of  Picardy.  Though  a  man  of  high  ac- 
count in  his  own  province,  his  past  honors  paled 
before  the  splendor  of  the  titles  said  to  have 
been  now  conferred  on  him,  —  Lord  of  Norem- 
bega.  Viceroy  and  Lieutenant-General  in  Canada, 
Hochelaga,  Saguenay,  Newfoundland,  Belle  Isle, 
Carpunt,  Labrador,  the  Great  Bay,  and  Bacca- 
laos.^  To  this  windy  gift  of  ink  and  parchment  was 
added  a  solid  grant  from  the  royal  treasury,  with 
which  five  vessels  were  procured  and  equipped, 
and   to    Cartier  was  given  the  post  of  Captain- 

1  Brantome,  II.  28-3  ;  Auquetil,  V.  397  ;  Sismoudi,  XVII.  62. 

2  Labrador — Lahoratoris  Terra  —  is  so  called  from  the  circumstance 
that  Cortereal  in  the  year  1500  stole  thence  a  cargo  of  Indians  for  slaves. 
Belle  Isle  and  Carpunt,  —  the  strait  and  islands  between  Labrador  and 
Newfoundland.  The  Great  Bay,  —  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Norem- 
bega,  or  Norumbega,  more  properly  called  Arambec  (Hakluyt,  III.  167), 
was,  in  Ramusio's  map,  the  country  embraced  within  Nova  Scotia,  south- 
ern New  Brunswick,  and  a  part  of  Maine.  De  Laet  confines  it  to  a  dis- 
trict about  the  moutli  of  the  Penobscot.  Wytfleit  and  other  early  writers 
say  that  it  had  a  capital  city  of  the  same  name;  and  in  several  eld 
maps  this  fabulous  metropolis  is  laid  down,  with  towers  and  churches, 
on  the  river  Penobscot.     The  word  is  of  Indian  origin. 

Before  me  is  the  commission  of  Roberval,  Lettres  Fatentes  ar.corde'es  a 
Jc-han  Froiicoi/s  de  la  Ror/iie  Sr  de  Roberval,  copied  from  the  French  ar- 
chives. Here  he  is  simply  .«tyled  "  notre  Lieutenant-General,  Clief  Ducteur 
et  Cappitaine  delad.entreprin.se."  The  patent  is  in  Lescarbot  (1618).  In 
the  Archives  de  la  Bibliotheque  Publique  de  Rouen,  an  edict  is  preserved 
authorizing  Roberval  to  raise  "  uue  armc'e  de  volontaires  avec  victuaillea 
artillerie,  etc.  pour  aller  an  pays  de  Canada."  Harrisse  has  printed  cu- 
rious original  documents  concerning  Roberval  in  his  Notes  sur  la  Nouvelle 
France. 


1540.]  ROBERVAL'S  COMMISSION.  217 

General.  "  We  liave  resolved,"  says  Francis,  "  to 
send  him  again  to  the  lands  of  Canada  and  Hoche- 
laga,  which  form  the  extremity  of  Asia  towards 
the  west."^  His  commission  declares  the  ob- 
jects of  the  enterprise  to  be  discovery,  settlement, 
and  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  who  are  de- 
scribed as  "  men  without  knowledo;e  of  God  or 
use  of  reason,"^  —  a  pious  design,  held  doubtless 
in  full  sincerity  by  the  royal  profligate,  now,  in 
his  decline,  a  fervent  champion  of  the  Faith  and  a 
strenuous  tormentor  of  heretics.  The  machinery 
of  conversion  was  of  a  character  somewhat  ques- 
tionable, since  Cartier  and  Roberval  were  empow- 
ered to  ransack  the  prisons  for  thieves,  robbers, 
and  other  malefactors,  to  complete  their  crews 
and  strengthen  the  colony.  "  Whereas,"  says  the 
King,  "  we  have  undertaken  this  voyage  for  the 
honor  of  God  our  Creator,  desiring  with  all  our 
heart  to  do  that  which  shall  be  agreeable  to  Him, 
it  is  our  will  to  perform  a  compassionate  and  mer- 
itorious work  towards  criminals  and  malefactors, 
to  the  end  that  they  may  acknowledge  the  Crea- 
tor, return  thanks  to  Him,  and  mend  their  lives. 
Therefore  we  have  resolved  to  cause  to  be  delivered 
to  our  aforesaid  lieutenant  (Roberval),  such  and 
so  many  of  the  aforesaid  criminals  and  malefac- 
tors detained  in  our  prisons  as  may  seem  to  him 
useful  and  necessary  to  be  carried  to  the  aforesaid 
countries."^     Of  the  expected  profits  of  the  voy- 

1  Deparle  Roij,  17  Oct.,  1540  (Harrisse). 

2  See  the  commission  in  Lescarbot,  I.  411 ;  and  Hazard,  I.  19. 

2  Pouvoir  donne  par  le   Roy  au  Seigneur   de   Roberval,     7  Feb.,  1540 
(Harrisse). 


218  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE,  [1540. 

age  the  adventurers  were  to  have  one  third  and 
the  King  another,  while  the  remainder  was  to 
be  reserved  towards  defraying  expenses. 

With  respect  to  Donnacona  and  his  tribesmen, 
basely  kidnapped  at  Stadacone,  their  souls  had 
been  better  cared  for  than  their  bodies ;  for,  hav- 
ing been  duly  baptized,  they  all  died  within  a 
year  or  two,  to  the  great  detriment,  as  it  proved, 
of  the  expedition.^ 

Meanwhile,  from  beyond  the  Pyrenees,  the  Most 
Catholic  King,  with  alarmed  and  jealous  eye, 
watched  the  preparations  of  his  Most  Christian 
enemy.  America,  in  his  eyes,  was  one  vast  prov- 
ince of  Spain,  to  be  vigilantly  guarded  against  the 
intruding  foreigner.  To  what  end  were  men  mus- 
tered, and  ships  fitted  out  in  the  Breton  seaports  ? 
Was  it  for  colonization,  and  if  so,  where  ?  Was 
it  in  Southern  Florida,  or  on  the  frozen  shores  of 
Baccalaos,  of  which  Breton  cod-fishers  claimed  the 
discovery  ?  Or  would  the  French  build  forts  on 
the  Bahamas,  whence  they  could  waylay  the  gold 
ships  in  the  Bahama  Channel  ?  Or  was  the  expe- 
dition destined  against  the  Spanish  settlements  of 
the  islands  or  the  Main  ?  Reinforcements  were 
despatched  in  haste,  and  a  spy  was  sent  to  France, 
who,  passing  from  port  to  port,  Quimper,  St.  Malo, 
Brest,  Morlaix,  came  back  freighted  with  exagger- 

1  M.  Charles  Cunut  a  M.  L.  Houins,  Maire  de  St.  Malo.  This  is  a 
report  of  researches  made  by  M.  Cunat  in  1844  in  the  archives  of  St. 
Malo. 

Extrait  Baptistaire  des  Sauvages  amenes  en  France  par  Honneste  Homme 
Jacques  Cartier. 

Thevet  says  that  he  knew  Donnacona  in  France,  and  found  him  "  a 
good  Christian." 


1541.J  SPANISH  JEALOUSY.  219 

ated  tales  of  preparation.  The  Council  of  the 
Indies  was  called.  "  The  French  are  bound  for 
Baccalaos,"  —  such  was  the  substance  of  their  re- 
port ;  "  your  Majesty  will  do  well  to  send  two 
caravels  to  watch  their  movements,  and  a  force  to 
take  possession  of  the  said  country.  And  since 
there  is  no  other  money  to  pay  for  it,  the  gold 
from  Peru,  now  at  Panama,  might  be  used  to  that 
end."  The  Cardinal  of  Seville  thought  lightly  of 
the  danger,  and  prophesied  that  the  French  would 
reap  nothing  from  their  enterprise  but  disappoint- 
ment and  loss.  The  king  of  Portugal,  sole  ac- 
knowledged partner  with  Spain  in  the  ownership 
of  the  New  World,  was  invited  by  the  Spanish 
ambassador  to  take  part  in  an  expedition  against 
the  encroaching  French.  "  They  can  do  no  harm 
at  Baccalaos,"  was  the  cold  reply;  ''and  so,"  adds 
the  indignant  ambassador,  "this  king  would  say  if 
they  should  come  and  take  him  here  at  Lisbon ; 
such  is  the  softness  they  show  here  on  the  one 
hand,  while,  on  the  other,  they  wish  to  give  law  to 
the  whole  world."  ^ 

The  five  ships,  occasions  of  this  turmoil  and 
alarm,  had  lain  at  St.  Malo  waiting  for  cannon 
and  munitions  from  Normandy  and  Champagne. 
They  waited  in  vain,  and  as  the  King's  orders  were 
stringent  against  delay,  it  was  resolved  that  Car- 
tier  should  sail  at  once,  leaving  Roberval  to  follow 
with  additional  ships  when  the  expected  supplies 
arrived. 

1  See  the  documents  on  this  subject  in  the  Coleccion  de  Varios  Docn- 
mentos  of  Buckingham  Smith,  I.  107-112. 


220  EARLY   FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1541. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  May,  1541/  the  Breton 
captain  again  spread  his  canvas  for  New  France, 
and,  passing  in  safety  the  tempestuous  Atlantic, 
the  fog-banks  of  Newfoundland,  the  island  rocks 
clouded  with  screaming  sea-fowl,  and  the  forests 
breathing  piny  odors  from  the  shore,  cast  an- 
chor again  beneath  the  cliifs  of  Quebec.  Canoes 
came  out  from  shore  filled  with  feathered  savages 
inquiring  for  their  kidnapped  chiefs.  "  Donna- 
cona,"  replied  Cartier,  "is  dead";  but  he  added 
the  politic  falsehood,  that  the  others  had  married 
in  France,  and  lived  in  state,  like  great  lords.  The 
Indians  pretended  to  be  satisfied ;  but  it  was  soon 
apparent  that  they  looked  askance  on  the  perfidi- 
ous strangers. 

Cartier  pursued  his  course,  sailed  three  leagues 
and  a  half  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  anchored 
off  the  mouth  of  the  River  of  Cap  Rouge.  It  was 
late  in  August,  and  the  leafy  landscape  sweltered 
in  the  sun.  The  Frenchmen  landed,  picked  up 
quartz  crystals  on  the  shore  and  thought  them 
diamonds,  climbed  the  steep  promontory,  drank 
at  the  spring  near  the  top,  looked  abroad  on 
the  wooded  slopes  beyond  the  little  river,  waded 
through  the  tall  grass  of  the  meadow,  found  a 
quarry  of  slate,  and  gathered  scales  of  a  yellow 
mineral  which  glistened  like  gold,  then  returned 
to  their  boats,  crossed  to  the  south  shore  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and,  languid  with  the  heat,  rested 
in  the  shade  of  forests  laced  with  an  entanglement 
of  grape-vines. 

1  Haklujt's  date,  1540,  is  incorrect. 


1542.]  ROBERVAL  AND   CARTIER.  221 

Now  their  task  began,  and  while  some  cleared 
off  the  woods  and  sowed  turnip-seed,  others  cut  a 
zigzag  road  up  the  height,  and  others  built  two 
forts,  one  at  the  summit,  and  one  on  the  shore  be- 
low. The  forts  finished,  the  Vicomte  de  Beaupre 
took  command,  while  Cartier  went  with  two  boats 
to  explore  the  rapids  above  Hochelaga.  When  at 
length  he  returned,  the  autumn  was  far  advanced ; 
and  with  the  gloom  of  a  Canadian  November  came 
distrust,  foreboding,  and  homesickness.  Roberval 
had  not  appeared ;  the  Indians  kept  jealously  aloof; 
the  motley  colony  was  sullen  as  the  dull,  raw  air 
around  it.  There  was  disgust  and  ire  at  Charles- 
bourg-Royal,  for  so  the  place  was  called.^ 

Meanwhile,  unexpected  delays  had  detained  the 
impatient  Roberval ;  nor  was  it  until  the  six- 
teenth of  April,  1542,  that,  with  three  ships  and 
two  hundred  colonists,  he  set  sail  from  Rochelle. 
When,  on  the  eighth  of  June,  he  entered  the  har- 
bor of  St.  John,  he  found  seventeen  fishing-vessels 
lying  there  at  anchor.  Soon  after,  he  descried 
three  other  sail  rounding  the  entrance  of  the  haven, 
and,  with  anger  and  amazement,  recognized  the 
ships  of  Jacques  Cartier.  That  voyager  had  bro- 
ken up  his  colony  and  abandoned  New  France. 
What  motives  had  prompted  a  desertion  little  con- 
sonant with  the  resolute  spirit  of  the  man  it  is 
impossible  to  say,  —  whether  sickness  within,   or 

'  The  original  narrative  of  this  voyage  is  fragmentary,  and  exists  only 
\h  tlie  translation  of  Hakluyt.  Purchas,  Belknap,  Forster,  Chalmers, 
and  tlie  other  secondary  writers,  all  draw  from  this  source.  The  narrative 
published  by  the  Literary  and  Historical  Society  of  Quebec  is  the  English 
version  of  Hakluyt  retranslated  into  French. 


222      .  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1542. 

Indian  enemies  without,  disgust  with  an  enterprise 
whose  unripened  fruits  had  proved  so  hard  and 
bitter,  or  discontent  at  finding  himself  reduced  to 
a  post  of  subordination  in  a  country  which  he  had 
discovered  and  where  he  had  commanded.  The 
Viceroy  ordered  him  to  return  ;  but  Cartier  escaped 
with  his  vessels  under  cover  of  night,  and  made 
sail  for  France,  carrying  with  him  as  trophies  a 
few  quartz  diamonds  from  Cap  Rouge,  and  grains 
of  sham  gold  from  the  neighboring  slate  ledges. 
Thus  closed  the  third  Canadian  voyage  of  this  nota- 
ble explorer.  His  discoveries  had  gained  for  him 
a  patent  of  nobility,  and  he  owned  the  seigniorial 
mansion  of  Limoilou,^  a  rude  structure  of  stone 
still  standing.  Here,  and  in  the  neighboring  town 
of  St.  Malo,  where  also  he  had  a  house,  he  seems 
to  have  lived  for  many  years.^ 

Roberval  once  more  set  sail,  steering  northward 
to  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle  and  the  dreaded  Isles  of 
Demons.  And  here  an  incident  befell  which  the 
all-believing  Thevet  records  in  manifest  good  faith, 
and  which,  stripped  of  the  adornments  of  super- 

1  This  curious  relic,  -wliich  in  1865  was  still  entire,  in  the  suburbs  of 
St.  Malo,  was  as  rude  in  construction  as  an  ordinary  farmhouse.  It  had 
only  a  kitchen  and  a  hall  below,  and  two  rooms  above.  At  the  side  was  a 
small  staljle,  and,  opposite,  a  barn.  These  buildings,  together  with  two 
heavy  stone  walls,  enclosed  a  square  court.  Adjacent  was  a  garden  and 
an  orchard.  The  whole  indicates  a  rough  and  simple  way  of  life.  See 
Rame,  Note  sur  le  Manoir  ch  Jacques  Cartier. 

2  The  above  account  of  the  departure  of  Cartier  from  Canada  is  from 
Hakluyt.  Since  it  was  written,  M.  Go.sselin,  archivist  of  the  Palais  de 
Justice  at  Rouen  has  discovered  a  paper  which  shows  that  Roberval  sailed 
from  France,  not  on  the  16th  of  April,  1542,  but  on  the  22d  of  August, 
1541,  thus  confusing  the  narrative  of  Hakluj-t.  What  remains  certain  is 
that  Cartier  left  Canada  while  Roberval  stayed  there,  and  tliat  there  were 
disputes  between  them.     See  Rame',  Documents  Inedits  (1865),  22. 


1542]  MARGUERITE.  223 

stition  and  a  love  of  the  marvellous,  has  without 
doubt  a  nucleus  of  truth.  I  give  the  tale  as  T 
find  it. 

The  Viceroy's  company  was  of  a  mixed  com- 
plexion. There  were  nobles,  officers,  soldiers, 
sailors,  adventurers,  with  women  too,  and  chil- 
dren. Of  the  women,  some  were  of  birth  and 
station,  and  among  them  a  damsel  called  Mar- 
guerite, a  niece  of  Roberval  himself.  In  the  ship 
was  a  young  gentleman  who  had  embarked  for 
love  of  her.  His  love  was  too  well  requited ;  and 
the  stern  Viceroy,  scandalized  and  enraged  at  a 
passion  which  scorned  concealment  and  set  shame 
at  defiance,  cast  anchor  by  the  haunted  island, 
landed  his  indiscreet  relative,  gave  her  four  arque- 
buses for  defence,  and,  with  an  old  Norman  nurse 
named  Bastienne,  who  had  pandered  to  the  lovers, 
left  her  to  her  fate.  Her  gallant  threw  himself 
into  the  surf,  and  by  desperate  effort  gained  the 
shore,  with  two  more  guns  and  a  supply  of  am- 
munition. 

The  ship  weighed  anchor,  receded,  vanished, 
and  they  were  left  alone.  Yet  not  so,  for  the 
demon  lords  of  the  island  beset  them  day  and 
night,  raging  around  their  hut  with  a  confused 
and  hungry  clamoring,  striving  to  force  the  frail 
barrier.  The  lovers  had  repented  of  their  sin, 
though  not  abandoned  it,  and  Heaven  was  on 
their  side.  The  saints  vouchsafed  their  aid,  and 
the  offended  Virgin,  relenting,  held  before  them 
her  protecting  shield.  In  the  form  of  beasts  or 
other  shapes  abominably  and  unutterably  hideous, 


'224  EARLY   FRENCH   ADVENTURE.  [1542. 

the  brood  of  liell,  howling  in  baffled  fury,  tore  at 
the  branches  of  the  sylvan  dwelling  ;  but  a  celes- 
tial hand  was  ever  interposed,  and  there  was  a 
viewless  barrier  which  they  might  not  pass.  Mar- 
guerite became  pregnant.  Here  was  a  double 
prize,  two  souls  in  one,  mother  and  child.  The 
fiends  grew  frantic,  but  all  in'  vain.  She  stood 
undaunted  amid  these  horrors ;  but  her  lover, 
dismayed  and  heart-broken,  sickened  and  died. 
Her  child  soon  followed  ;  then  the  old  Norman 
nurse  found  her  unhallowed  rest  in  that  accursed 
soil,  and  Marguerite  was  left  alone.  Neither  her 
reason  nor  her  courage  failed.  When  the  demons 
assailed  her,  she  shot  at  them  with  her  gun,  but 
they  answered  with  hellish  merriment,  and  thence- 
forth she  placed  her  trust  in  Heaven  alone.  There 
were  foes  aroimd  her  of  the  upper,  no  less  than  of 
the  nether  world.  Of  these,  the  bears  were  the 
most  redoubtable  ;  yet,  being  vulnerable  to  mortal 
weapons,  she  killed  three  of  them,  all,  says  the 
story,  "  as  white  as  an  egg." 

It  was  two  years  and  five  months  from  her 
landing  on  the  island,  when,  far  out  at  sea,  the 
crew  of  a  small  fishing-craft  saw  a  column  of 
smoke  curling  upward  from  the  haunted  shore. 
Was  it  a  device  of  the  fiends  to  lure  them  to  their 
ruin  ?  They  thought  so,  and  kept  aloof.  But 
misgiving  seized  them.  They  warily  drew  near, 
and  descried  a  female  figure  in  wild  attire  wav- 
ing signals  from  the  strand.  Thus  at  length  was 
Marguerite  rescued  and  restored  to  her  native 
France,  where,  a  few  years  later,  the  cosmographer 


1542.]  ROBERVAL  AT   CAP  ROUGE.  225 

Thevet  met  her  at  Natron  in  Perigord,  and  heard 
the  tale  of  wonder  from  her  own  lips.^ 

Having  left  his  offending  niece  to  the  devils 
and  bears  of  the  Isles  of  Demons,  Roberval  held 
his  course  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  dropped  an- 
chor before  the  heights  of  Cap  Rouge.  His  com- 
pany landed ;  there  were  bivouacs  along  the  strand, 
a  hubbub  of  pick  and  spade,  axe,  saw,  and  ham- 
mer; and  soon  in  the  wilderness  uprose  a  goodly 
structure,  half  barrack,  half  castle,  with  two  tow- 
ers, two  spacious  halls,  a  kitchen,  chambers,  store- 
rooms, workshops,  cellars,  garrets,  a  well,  an  oven, 
and  two  water-mills.  Roberval  named  it  France- 
Roy,  and  it  stood  on  that  bold  acclivity  where 
Cartier  had  before  intrenched  himself,  the  St. 
Lawrence  in  front,  and  on  the  right  the  River 
of  Cap  Rouge.  Here  all  the  colony  housed  under 
the  same  roof,  like  one  of  the  experimental  com- 
munities of  recent  days,  —  officers,  soldiers,  nobles, 
artisans,  laborers,  and  convicts,  with  the  women 
and  children  in  whom  lay  the  future  hope  of  New 
France. 

1  The  story  is  taken  from  the  curious  manuscript  of  1586.  Compare 
the  Cosmographie  of  Thevet,  (1575,)  II.  c.  6.  Thevet  was  the  personal 
friend  both  of  Cartier  and  of  Roberval,  the  latter  of  whom  lie  calls  "  nion 
faniilier,"  and  the  former,  "  mon  grand  et  singulier  amy."  He  says  that 
he  lived  five  months  with  Cartier  in  his  house  at  St.  Malo.  He  was  also 
a  friend  of  Rabelais,  who  once,  in  Italy,  rescued  him  from  a  serious  em- 
barrassment. See  the  Notice  Biographiqne  prefixed  to  the  edition  of 
Rabelais  of  Burgaud  des  Marets  and  Rathery.  The  story  of  Marguerite 
is  also  told  in  the  Heptameron  of  Marguerite  de  Valois,  sister  of  Francis 
I.  (1559). 

In  the  Routier  of  Jean  Alphonse,  Roberval's  pilot,  where  the  principal 
points  of  the  voyage  are  set  down,  repeated  mention  is  made  of  "  les 
Isles  de  la  Demoiselle,"  immediately  north  of  Newfoundland.  The  in- 
ference is  obvious  that  the  demoiselle  was  Marguerite. 

16 


226  EARLY  FRENCH   ADVENTURE.  [1542. 

Experience  and  forecast  had  both  been  wanting. 
There  were  storehouses,  but  no  stores  ;  mills,  but 
no  grist ;  an  ample  oven,  and  a  dearth  of  bread. 
It  was  only  when  two  of  the  ships  had  sailed  for 
France  that  they  took  account  of  their  provision 
and  discovered  its  lamentable  shortcoming.  Win- 
^  ter  and  famine  followed.  They  bought  fish  from 
the  Indians,  and  dug  roots  and  boiled  them  in 
whale-oil.  Disease  broke  out,  and,  before  spring, 
killed  one  third  of  the  colony.  The  rest  would 
have  quarrelled,  mutinied,  and  otherwise  aggra- 
vated their  inevitable  woes,  but  disorder  was 
dangerous  under  the  iron  rule  of  the  inexorable 
Eoberval.  Michel  Gaillon  was  detected  in  a  petty 
theft,  and  hanged.  Jean  de  Nantes,  for  a  more 
venial  offence,  was  kept  in  irons.  The  quarrels 
of  men  and  the  scolding  of  women  were  alike  re- 
quited at  the  whipping-post,  "by  which  means," 
quaintly  says  the  narrative,  "  they  lived  in  peace." 

Thevet,  while  calling  himself  the  intimate 
friend  of  the  Viceroy,  gives  a  darker  coloring  to 
his  story.  He  says  that,  forced  to  unceasing 
labor,  and  chafed  by  arbitrary  rules,  some  of  the 
soldiers  fell  under  Roberval's  displeasure,  and  six 
of  them,  formerly  his  favorites,  were  hanged  in 
one  day.  Others  were  banished  to  an  island,  and 
there  kept  in  fetters  ;  while,  for  various  light 
offences,  several,  both  men  and  women,  were  shot. 
Even  the  Indians  were  moved  to  pity,  and  wept 
at  the  sight  of  their  woes.^ 

And  here,  midway,  our   guide  deserts  us  ;   the 

1  Thevet  MS.  (1586). 


1543.]  DEATH   OF   ROBERVAL.  227 

ancient  narrative  is  broken,  and  the  latter  part 
is  lost,  leaving  us  to  divine  as  we  may  the  future 
of  the  ill-starred  colon3^  That  it  did  not  long 
survive  is  certain.  The  King,  in  great  need  of 
Roberval,  sent  Cartier  to  bring  him  home,  and 
this  voyage  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  the 
summer  of  1543.^  It  is  said  that,  in  after  years, 
the  Viceroy  essayed  to  repossess  himself  of  his 
Transatlantic  domain,  and  lost  his  life  in  the  at- 
tempt.^ Thevet,  on  the  other  hand,  with  ample 
means  of  learning  the  truth,  affirms  that  Roberval 
was  slain  at  night,  near  the  Church  of  the  Inno- 
cents, in  the  heart  of  Paris. 

With  him  closes  the  prelude  of  the  French- 
American  drama.  Tempestuous  years  and  a  reign 
of  blood  and  fire  were  in  store  for  France.  The 
religious  wars  begot  the  hapless  colony  of  Flor- 
ida, but  for  more  than  half  a  century  they  left 
New  France  a  desert.  Order  rose  at  length  out  of 
the  sanguinary  chaos ;  the  zeal  of  discovery  and 
the  spirit  of  commercial  enterprise  once  more 
awoke,  while,  closely  following,  more  potent  than 
they,  moved  the  black-robed  forces  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  reaction. 

1  Lescarbot  (1612),  I.  416. 

2  Le  Clerc,  ^tabllssement  de  la  Foy,  I.  14. 

Note.  —  The  Voi/arje  of  Verrazzano.  The  narrative  of  the  voyage  of 
Verrazzano  is  contained  in  a  letter  from  him,  dated  at  Dieppe,  8  July, 
1524.  The  original  letter  does  not  exist.  An  Italian  translation  was 
printed  by  Ramusio  in  1556,  and  there  is  another  translation  in  the  Mag- 
liabecchian  Library  at  Florence.  This  last  is  accompanied  by  a  letter  con- 
cerning the  voyage  from  one  Fernando  Carli,  dated  at  Lyons,  4  August, 
1524.  Hieronimo  da  Verrazzano,  brother  of  the  navigator,  made  in  1529 
a  large  map  of  the  world,  which  is  preserved  in  the  College  of  the  Propa- 


228  EARLY  FRENCH  ADVENTURE.  [1524. 

ganda  at  Rome.  The  discoveries  of  Verrazzano  are  laid  down  upon  it, 
and  the  North  American  part  bears  the  inscription,  "  Verazzana  sive  nova 
Gallia  quale  discopri  5  anni  fa  Giovanni  da  Verazzano  fiorentiuo  per  ordine 
e  Comandamento  del  Cristianissimo  Re  di  Francia."  A  copper  globe  made 
by  Euphrosynus  Ulpius,  in  1542,  also  affirms  the  discovery  of  Verrazzano, 
and  gives  his  name  to  a  part  of  the  continent,  while  other  contemporary 
maps,  notably  that  of  Visconte  di  Maiollo,  1527,  also  contain  traces  of 
his  voyage.  Ramusio  says  that  he  had  conversed  with  many  persons  who 
knew  Verrazzano,  and  he  prints  a  paper  called  Discorso  d'  un  gran  Capitano 
di  ^[are  Francese,  in  whioli  the  voyage  of  Verrazzano  is  mentioned  by  a 
contemporary  navigator  of  Dieppe. 

Various  Spanish  and  Portuguese  documents  attest  the  exploits  of  Ver- 
razzano as  a  corsair,  and  a  letter  of  Silveira,  Portuguese  ambassador  to 
France,  shows  that  in  the  spring  of  1523  he  had  announced  his  purpose  of 
a  voyage  to  "  Cathay."  On  the  eleventh  of  May,  1526,  he  gave  a  power 
of  attorney  to  his  brother  Hieronimo,  the  maker  of  the  map,  and  this 
paper  still  exists,  bearing  his  autograph.  Various  other  original  papers 
relating  to  him  are  extant,  one  of  the  most  curious  being  that  of  the 
judge  of  Cadiz,  testifying  to  his  capture  and  his  execution  at  Puerto  del 
Pico.  None  of  the  early  writers  question  the  reality  of  the  voyage. 
Among  those  who  affirm  it  may  be  mentioned  Annibal  Caro,  1537;  Belle- 
forest,  1570;  Herrera,  1601;  Wytfleit,  1603;  De  Laet,  1603;  Lescarbot, 
1612. 

In  1864,  Mr.  Buckingham  Smith  questioned  the  genuineness  of  the 
Verrazzano  letter  in  a  pamphlet  called,  An  Inquiry  into  the  Authenticity  oj 
Documents  concerning  a  Discovery  in  North  America  claimed  to  have  been 
made  by  Verrazzano.  Mr.  J.  Carson  Brevoort  answered  him,  in  a  book 
entitled  Verrazzano  the  Navigator.  Mr.  Henry  C.  Murphy  followed  with 
another  book,  The  Voyage  of  Verrazzano,  in  which  he  endeavored  at  great 
length  to  prove  that  the  evidence  concerning  the  voyage  was  fabricated. 
Mr.  Henry  Harrisse  gave  a  cautious  and  qualified  support  to  his  views  in 
the  Revue  Critique.  Mr.  Major  answered  tliem  in  the  London  Geographi- 
cal Magazine,  and  Mr.  De  Costa  made  an  elaborate  and  effective  reply 
in  his  work  called  Verrazzano  the  Explorer.  An  Italian  writer,  Siguor 
Desimoni,  has  added  some  cogent  facts  in  support  of  the  authenticity  of 
the  documents.  A  careful  examination  of  these  various  writings  convinces 
me  that  the  evidence  in  favor  of  the  voyage  of  Verrazzano  is  far  stronger 
than  the  evidence  against  it.  Abbe'  Verreau  found  a  contemporary  docu- 
ment in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  in  which  it  is  mentioned  that  the 
"  memoirs  "  of  Verrazzano  were  then  in  possession  of  Chatillon  (Admiral 
Coligny).     See  Report  on  Canadian  Archives,  1874,  p.  190. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1542-1604. 

LA  ROCHE.  —  CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE  MONTS. 

French  Fishermen  and  Fur-Traders.  —  La  Roche.  —  The  Convicts 
OF  Sable  Island.  —  Tadoussac.  —  Sa.muel  de  Champlain.  — 
Visits  the  West  Indies  and  Mexico.  —  Explores  the  St. 
Lawrence.  —  De  Monts.  —  His  Acadian  Schemes. 

Years  rolled  on.  France,  long  tossed  among 
the  surges  of  civil  commotion,  plunged  at  last  into 
a  gulf  of  fratricidal  war.  Blazing  hamlets,  sacked 
cities,  fields  steaming  with  slaughter,  profaned 
altars,  and  ravished  maidens,  marked  the  track 
of  the  tornado.  There  was  little  room  for  schemes 
of  foreign  enterprise.  Yet,  far  aloof  from  siege 
and  battle,  the  fishermen  of  the  western  ports 
still  plied  their  craft  on  the  Banks  of  Newfound- 
land. Humanity,  morality,  decency,  might  be 
forgotten,  but  codfish  must  still  be  had  for  the 
use  of  the  faithful  in  Lent  and  on  fast  days.  Still 
the  wandering  Esquimaux  saw  the  Norman  and 
Breton  sails  hovering  around  some  lonely  head- 
land, or  anchored  in  fleets  in  the  harbor  of  St. 
John ;  and  still,  through  salt  spi'ay  and  driv- 
ing mist,  the  fishermen  dragged  up  the  riches  of 
the  sea. 

In  January  and  February,  1545,  about  two  ves- 
sels a  day  sailed  from  French  ports  for  Newfound- 


230  LA   ROCHE.  —  CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE   MONTS.  [1586. 

land.^  In  1565,  Pedro  Menendez  complains  that 
the  French  "  rule  despotically "  in  those  parts. 
In  1578,  there  were  a  hundred  and  fifty  French 
fishing-vessels  there,  besides  two  hundred  of  other 
nations,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  English.  Added 
to  these  were  twenty  or  thirty  Biscayan  whalers.^ 
In  1607,  there  was  an  old  French  fisherman  at 
Canseau  who  had  voyaged  to  these  seas  for  forty- 
two  successive  years.^ 

But  if  the  wilderness  of  ocean  had  its  treasures, 
so  too  had  the  wilderness  of  woods.  It  needed 
but  a  few  knives,  beads,  and  trinkets,  and  the 
Indians  would  throng  to  the  shore  burdened  with 
the  spoils  of  their  winter  hunting.  Fishermen 
threw  up  their  old  vocation  for  the  more  lucrative 
trade  in  bear-skins  and  beaver-skins.  They  built 
rude  huts  along  the  shores  of  Anticosti,  where,  at 
that  day,  the  bison,  it  is  said,  could  be  seen  wal- 
lowing in  the  sands.*  They  outraged  the  Indians ; 
they  quarrelled  with  each  other ;  and  this  infancy 
of  the  Canadian  fur-trade  showed  rich  promise 
of  the  disorders  which  marked  its  riper  growth. 
Others,  meanwhile,  were  ranging  the  gulf  in 
search  of  walrus  tusks ;  and,  the  year  after  the 

1  Gosselin,  Documents  Authentiques. 

'^  Hakluyt,  HI.  132.  Comp.  Piukerton,  Voi/ages,  XII.  174,  and  Thevet 
MS.  (1586). 

^  Lescarbot,  II.  605.     Purchas's  date  is  wrong. 

*  Thevet  MS.  (1586).  Thevet  says  that  he  had  him.self  seen  them. 
Perhaps  he  confounds  tliem  with  the  moose. 

In  1565,  and  for  some  years  j)revious,  bison-sl^ins  were  brought  by  the 
Indians  down  the  Potomac,  and  thence  carried  along-shore  in  canoes  to  the 
French  about  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  During  two  years,  six  thousand 
skins  were  tlius  obtained.    Letters  of  Pedro  Menendez  to  Philip  II.,  MS. 

On  the  fur-trade,  see  Hakluyt,  III.  187,  193,  233,  292,  etc. 


1598.]  MARQUIS   DE   LA   ROCHE.  231 

battle  of  Ivry,  St.  Malo  sent  out  a  fleet  of  small 
craft  in  quest  of  this  new  prize. 

In  all  the  western  seaports,  merchants  and  ad- 
venturers turned  their  eyes  towards  America ;  not, 
like  the  Spaniards,  seeking  treasures  of  silver  and 
gold,  but  the  more  modest  gains  of  codfish  and 
train-oil,  beaver-skins  and  marine  ivory.  St. 
Malo  was  conspicuous  above  them  all.  The  rug- 
ged Bretons  loved  the  perils  of  the  sea,  and  saw 
with  a  jealous  eye  every  attempt  to  shackle  their 
activity  on  this  its  favorite  field.  When  in  1588 
Jacques  Noel  and  Estienne  Chaton,  the  former  a 
nephew  of  Cartier  and  the  latter  pretending  to  be 
so,  gained  a  monopoly  of  the  American  fur-trade 
for  twelve  years,  such  a  clamor  arose  within  the 
walls  of  St.  Malo  that  the  obnoxious  grant  was 
promptly  revoked.^ 

But  soon  a  power  was  in  the  field  against  which 
all  St.  Malo  might  clamor  in  vain.  A  Catholic 
nobleman  of  Brittany,  the  Marquis  de  la  Roche, 
bargained  with  the  King  to  colonize  New  France. 
On  his  part,  he  was  to  receive  a  monopoly  of  the 
trade,  and  a  profusion  of  worthless  titles  and 
empty  privileges.  He  was  declared  Lieutenant- 
General  of  Canada,  Hochelaga,  Newfoundland, 
Labrador,  and  the  countries  adjacent,  with  sover- 
eign power  within  his  vast  and  ill-defined  domain. 
He  could  levy  troops,  declare  war  and  peace,  make 
laws,  punish  or  pardon  at  will,  build  cities,  forts, 
and  castles,  and  grant  out  lands  in  fiefs,  seignior- 

1  Lescarbot,  I.  418.  Compare  Rame,  Documents  Inedits  (1865).  In 
Hakluyt  are  two  letters  of  Jacques  Noel. 


232  LA   ROCHE.  — CHAMPLAIN  —  DE   MONTS.  [1598 

ies,  counties,  viscounties,  and  baronies.^  Thus 
was  effete  and  cumbrous  feudalism  to  make  a 
lodgment  in  the  New  World.  It  was  a  scheme 
of  high-sounding  promise,  but  in  performance  less 
than  contemptible.  La  Roche  ransacked  the  pris- 
ons, and,  gathering  thence  a  gang  of  thieves  and 
desperadoes,  embarked  them  in  a  small  vessel,  and 
set  sail  to  plant  Christianity  and  civilization  in  the 
West.  Suns  rose  and  set,  and  the  wretched  bark, 
deep  freighted  with  brutality  and  vice,  held  on 
her  course.  She  was  so  small,  that  the  convicts, 
leaning  over  her  side,  could  wash  their  hands  in 
the  water.^  At  length,  on  the  gray  horizon  they 
descried  a  long,  gray  line  of  ridgy  sand.  It  was 
Sable  Island,  off  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia.  A 
wreck  lay  stranded  on  the  beach,  and  the  surf 
broke  ominously  over  the  long,  submerged  arms  of 
sand,  stretched  far  out  into  the  sea  on  the  right 
hand  and  on  the  left. 

Here  La  Roche  landed  the  convicts,  forty  in 
number,  while,  with  his  more  trusty  followers, 
he  sailed  to  explore  the  neighboring  coasts,  and 
choose  a  site  for  the  capital  of  his  new  dominion, 
to  which,  in  due  time,  he  proposed  to  remove  the 
prisoners.  But  suddenly  a  tempest  from  the  west 
assailed  him.     The  frail  vessel  was  forced  to  run 

'  Lettres  Patentes  pour  le  Sienr  de  la  Roche,  12  Jan.,  1598;  Lescarbot, 
1.422;  £dits  et  Ordonnances,  (Quebec,  1804,)  II.  4.  La  Roche  had  re- 
ceived a  similar  commission  in  1577  and  1578,  but  seems  to  have  made 
no  use  of  it.  Rame,  Documents  Inedits  (1867).  There  is  evidence  that, 
as  early  as  1564,  the  King  designed  an  expedition  to  colonize  Canada. 
See  Gosselin,  Documents  Ine'dits  pour  servir  ^  I'Histoire  de  la  Marine  Nor- 
mande. 

-  Lescarbot,  I.  421. 


1603.]  THE  CONVICTS  OF  SABLE   ISLAND.  233 

before  the  gale,  which,  howling  on  her  track, 
drove  her  off  the  coast,  and  chased  her  back  to- 
wards France. 

Meanwhile  the  convicts  watched  in  suspense  for 
the  returning  sail.  Days  passed,  weeks  passed, 
and  still  they  strained  their  eyes  in  vain  across  the 
waste  of  ocean.  La  Roche  had  left  them  to  their 
fate.  Rueful  and  desperate,  they  wandered  among 
the  sand-hills,  through  the  stunted  whortleberry 
bushes,  the  rank  sand-grass,  and  the  tangled  cran- 
berry vines  which  filled  the  hollows.  Not  a  tree 
was  to  be  seen ;  but  they  built  huts  of  the  frag- 
ments of  the  wreck.  For  food  they  caught  fish  in 
the  surrounding  sea,  and  hunted  the  cattle  which 
ran  wild  about  the  island,  sprung,  perhaps,  from 
those  left  here  eighty  years  before  by  the  Baron 
de  Lery.^  They  killed  seals,  trapped  black  foxes, 
and  clothed  themselves  in  their  skins.  Their  na- 
tive instincts  clung  to  them  in  their  exile.  As  if 
not  content  with  inevitable  miseries,  they  quar- 
relled and  murdered  one  another.  Season  after 
season  dragged  on.  Five  years  elapsed,  and,  of 
the  forty,  only  twelve  were  left  alive.  Sand,  sea, 
and  sky,  —  there  was  little  else  around  them ; 
though,  to  break  the  dead  monotony,  the  walrus 
would  sometimes  rear  his  half-human  face  and 
glistening  sides  on  the  reefs  and  sand-bars.  At 
length,  on  the  far  verge  of  the  watery  desert, 
they  descried  a  sail.     She  stood  on  towards  the 

^  Lescarbot,  I.  22.  Compare  De  Laet,  Lib.  II.  c.  4.  Charlevoix  ami 
Champlain  say  that  they  escaped  from  the  wreck  of  a  Spanish  vessel; 
Purchas,  that  they  were  left  by  the  Portuguese. 


234  LA   ROCHE.  — CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE   MONTS.  [1603 

island ;  a  boat's  crew  landed  on  the  beach,  and 
the  exiles  were  once  more  among  their  coun- 
trymen. 

When  La  Roche  returned  to  France,  the  fate 
of  his  followers  sat  heavy  on  his  mind.  But  the 
day  of  his  prosperity  was  gone.  A  host  of  ene- 
mies rose  against  him  and  his  privileges,  and  it  is 
said  that  the  Due  de  Mercosur,  seized  him  and 
threw  him  into  prison.  In  time,  however,  he 
gained  a  hearing  of  the  King,  and  the  Norman 
pilot,  Chefdhotel,  was  despatched  to  bring  the 
outcasts  home. 

He  reached  Sable  Island  in  September,  1603, 
and  brought  back  to  France  eleven  survivors, 
whose  names  are  still  preserved.-^  When  they 
arrived,  Henry  the  Fourth  summoned  them  into 
his  presence.  They  stood  before  him,  says  an  old 
writer,  like  river-gods  of  yore ;  ^  for  from  head  to 
foot  they  were  clothed  in  shaggy  skins,  and  beards 
of  prodigious  length  hung  from  their  swarthy 
faces.  They  had  accumulated,  on  their  island,  a 
quantity  of  valuable  furs.  Of  these  Chefdhotel 
had  robbed  them ;  but  the  pilot  was  forced  to 
disgorge  his  prey,  and,  with  the  aid  of  a  bounty 
from  the  King,  they  were  enabled  to  embark  on 
their   own   account   in   the  Canadian  trade.^      To 

1  Gosselin,  Documents  Authentiques  (Rouen,  1876). 

2  Charlevoix,  I.  110;  Gu'rin,  Nnviqnteurs  Fran^ais,  210. 

3  Purchas,  IV.  1807.  Before  me  are  several  curious  papers  copied 
from  the  archives  of  the  Palais  de  Justice  of  Rouen.  One  of  these  is  en- 
titled Copip  d'un  Arret  rendu  contre  Chefdhostel ,  27  Nov.,  160.3.  It  orders 
him  to  deliver  to  the  eleven  men  whom  he  had  just  brought  home  two 
thirds  of  their  furs.  Another,  dated  6  March,  1.598,  relates  to  the  crim- 
inals whom  La  Roche  was  empowered  to  take  from  the  prisons.     A  third, 


1603.]  PONTGRAVfi  AND  CHAUVIN.  235 

their  leader,  fortune  was  less  kind.  Broken  by 
disaster  and  imprisonment,  La  Roche  died  miser- 
ably. 

In  the  mean  time,  on  the  ruin  of  his  enterprise, 
a  new  one  had  been  begun.  Pontgrave,  a  mer- 
chant of  St.  Malo,  leagued  himself  with  Chauvin, 
a  captain  of  the  navy,  who  had  influence  at  court. 
A  patent  was  granted  to  them,  with  the  condition 
that  they  should  colonize  the  country.  But  their 
only  thought   was  to  enrich   themselves. 

At  Tadoussac,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Saguenay, 
under  the  shadow  of  savage  and  inaccessible 
rocks,  feathered  with  pines,  firs,  and  birch  trees, 
they  built  a  cluster  of  wooden  huts  and  store- 
houses. Here  they  left  sixteen  men  to  gather 
the  expected  harvest  of  furs.  Before  the  winter 
was  over,  several  of  them  were  dead,  and  the  rest 
scattered  through  the  woods,  living  on  the  charity 
of  the  Indians.^ 

But  a  new  era  had  dawned  on  France.  Ex- 
hausted with  thirty  years  of  conflict,  she  had  sunk 
at  last  to  a  repose,  uneasy  and  disturbed,  yet  the 
harbinger  of  recovery.  The  rugged  soldier  whom, 
for  the  weal  of  France  and  of  mankind.  Providence 
had  cast  to  the  troubled  surface  of  affairs,  was 
throned  in  the  Louvre,  composing  the  strife  of 
factions  and  the  quarrels  of  his  mistresses.     The 

dated  18  May,  1598,  orders  that  one  of  these  criminals,  Fran9ois  de  Raiil- 
dre,  convicted  of  hiirhway  robbery,  shall  not  be  allowed  to  go  to  Canada, 
but  shall  be  forthwith  beheaded.  These  papers  set  at  rest  the  disputed 
question  of  the  date  of  La  Roche's  voyage.  I  owe  them  to  the  kindness 
of  M.  Gabriel  Gravier,  of  Rouen. 

1  Champlain  (1632),  34;  Estancelin,  96. 


236  LA   ROCHE.  — CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE   MONTS.  [1603. 

bear-hunting  prince  of  the  Pyrenees  wore  the 
crown  of  France ;  and  to  this  day,  as  one  gazes 
on  the  time-worn  front  of  the  Tiiileries,  above  ah 
other  memories  rises  the  small,  strong  figure,  ths 
brow  wrinkled  with  cares  of  love  and  war,  the 
bristling  moustache,  the  grizzled  beard,  the  bold, 
vigorous,  and  withal  somewhat  odd  features  of  the 
mountaineer  of  Beam.  To  few  has  human  liberty 
owed  so  deep  a  gratitude  or  so  deep  a  grudge. 
He  cared  little  for  creeds  or  dogmas.  Impressi- 
ble, quick  in  sympathy,  his  grim  lip  lighted  often 
with  a  smile,  and  his  war-worn  cheek  was  no 
stranger  to  a  tear.  He  forgave  his  enemies  and 
forgot  his  friends.  Many  loved  him ;  none  but 
fools  trusted  him.  Mingled  of  mortal  good  and 
ill,  frailty  and  force,  of  all  the  kings  who  for  two 
centuries  and  more  sat  on  the  throne  of  France 
Henry  the  Fourth  alone  was  a  man. 

Art,  industry,  and  commerce,  so  long  crushed 
and  overborne,  were  stirring  into  renewed  life, 
and  a  crowd  of  adventurous  men,  nurtured  in 
war  and  incapable  of  repose,  must  seek  employ- 
ment for  their  restless  energies  in  fields  of  peace- 
ful enterprise. 

Two  small,  quaint  vessels,  not  larger  than  the 
fishing-craft  of  Gloucester  and  Marblehead,  —  one 
was  of  twelve,  the  other  of  fifteen  tons,  —  held 
their  way  across  the  Atlantic,  passed  the  tem- 
pestuous headlands  of  Newfoundland  and  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and,  with  adventurous  knight-errantry, 
glided  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  Canadian  wilder- 
ness.    On  board  of  one  of  them  was  the  Breton 


1598]  SAMUEL  DE   CHAMPLAIN.  237 

merchant,  Pontgrave,  and  with  him  a  man  of 
spirit  widely  different,  a  Catholic  of  good  family, 
Samuel  de  Champlain,  born  in  1567  at  the  small 
seaport  of  Brouage  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay.  His 
father  was  a  captain  in  the  royal  navy,  where  he 
himself  seems  also  to  have  served,  though  during 
the  war  he  had  fought  for  the  King  in  Brittany, 
under  the  banners  of  D'Aumont,  St.  Luc,  and 
Brissac.  His  purse  was  small,  his  merit  great ; 
and  Henry  the  Fourth  out  of  his  own  slender 
revenues  had  given  him  a  pension  to  maintain 
him  near  his  person.  But  rest  was  penance 
to  him.  The  war  in  Brittany  was  over.  The 
rebellious  Due  de  Mercoeur  was  reduced  to  obe- 
dience, and  the  royal  army  disbanded.  Cham- 
plain,  his  occupation  gone,  conceived  a  design 
consonant  with  his  adventurous  nature.  He 
would  visit  the  West  Indies,  and  bring  back  to 
the  King  a  report  of  those  regions  of  mystery 
whence  Spanish  jealousy  excluded  foreigners,  and 
where  every  intruding  Frenchman  was  threatened 
with  death.  Here  much  knowledge  was  to  be 
won  and  much  peril  to  be  m.et.  The  joint  attrac- 
tion was  resistless. 

The  Spaniards,  allies  of  the  vanquished  Leaguers, 
were  about  to  evacuate  Blavet,  their  last  strong- 
hold in  Brittany.  Thither  Champlain  repaired  : 
and  here  he  found  an  uncle,  who  had  charge  of 
the  French  fleet  destined  to  take  on  board  the 
Spanish  garrison.  Champlain  embarked  with 
them,  and,  reaching  Cadiz,  succeeded,  with  the 
aid   of   his   relative,    who   had   just  accepted  the 


238        LA   ROCHE  —  CHAMPLAIN.  — DE   MONTS.    [1598-1600, 

post  of  Pilot-General  of  the  Spanish  marine,  in 
gaining  command  of  one  of  the  ships  about  to 
sail  for  the  West  Indies  under  Don  Francisco 
Colombo. 

At  Dieppe  there  is  a  curious  old  manuscript,  in 
clear,  decisive,  and  somewhat  formal  handwriting 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  garnished  with  sixty- 
one  colored  pictures,  in  a  style  of  art  which  a 
child  of  ten  might  emulate.  Here  one  may  see 
ports,  harbors,  islands,  and  rivers,  adorned  with 
portraitures  of  birds,  beasts,  and  fishes  thereto  per- 
taining. Here  are  Indian  feasts  and  dances  ;  In- 
dians flogged  by  priests  for  not  going  to  mass ; 
Indians  burned  alive  for  heresy,  six  in  one  fire ; 
Indians  working  the  silver  mines.  Here,  too,  are 
descriptions  of  natural  objects,  each  with  its  illus- 
trative sketch,  some  drawn  from  life  and  some 
from  memory,  —  as,  for  example,  a  chameleon  with 
two  legs ;  others  from  hearsay,  among  which  is 
the  portrait  of  the  griffin  said  to  haunt  certain 
districts  of  Mexico,  a  monster  with  the  wings  of 
a  bat,  the  head  of  an  eagle,  and  the  tail  of  an 
alligator. 

This  is  Champlain's  journal,  written  and  il- 
lustrated by  his  own  hand,  in  that  defiance  of 
perspective  and  absolute  independence  of  the 
canons  of  art  which  mark  the  earliest  efforts  of 
the  pencil. 

A  true  hero,  after  the  chivalrous  mediaeval 
type,  his  character  was  dashed  largely  with  the 
spirit  of  romance.  Though  earnest,  sagacious, 
and   penetrating,    he    leaned   to   the    marvellous; 


1600^1603.]      CHAMPLAIN  IN  THE   WEST  INDIES.  239 

and  the  faith  which  was  the  life  of  his  hard  career 
was  somewhat  prone  to  overstep  the  bounds  of 
reason  and  invade  the  domain  of  fancy.  Hence 
the  erratic  character  of  some  of  his  exploits,  and 
hence  his  simple  faith  in  the  Mexican  griffin. 

His  West-Indian  adventure  occupied  him  more 
than  two  years.  He  visited  the  principal  ports 
of  the  islands,  made  plans  and  sketches  of  them 
all,  after  his  fashion,  and  then,  landing  at  Vera 
Cruz,  journeyed  inland  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  On 
his  return  he  made  his  way  to  Panama.  Here, 
more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  his  bold 
and  active  mind  conceived  the  plan  of  a  ship-canal 
across  the  isthmus,  "  by  which,"  he  says,  "  the 
voyage  to  the  South  Sea  would  be  shortened  by 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  leagues."  ^ 

On  reaching  France  he  repaired  to  Court,  and 
it  may  have  been  at  this  time  that  a  royal  pat- 
ent raised  him  to  the  rank  of  the  untitled  no- 
bility. He  soon  wearied  of  the  antechambers  of 
the  Louvre.     It  was  here,  however,  that  his  des- 

^  ".  .  .  .  Ton  accourciroit  par  ainsy  le  chemin  de  plus  de  1500  lieues, 
et  depuis  Panama  jusques  au  destroit  de  Magellan  se  seroit  une  isle,  et 
de  Panama  jusques  aux  Terres  Neufves  une  autre  isle,"  —  etc.  Cham- 
plain,  B  re/  D I  scours.  A  Biscayan  pilot  had  before,  suggested  the  plan  to 
the  Spanish  government ;  but  Philip  the  Second,  probablj'  in  the  interest 
of  certain  monopolies,  forbade  the  subject  to  be  again  brought  forward 
on  pain  of  death. 

The  journal  is  entitled,  "  Bref  Discours  des  Choses  plus  Eemarquables 
que  Samuel  Champlain  de  Brouage  a  recognues  aux  Indes  Occidentales." 
The  original  manuscript,  in  Champlain's  handwriting,  is,  or  was,  in  the 
hands  of  M.  Fcret  of  Dieppe,  a  collateral  descendant  of  the  writer's  patron, 
the  Commander  de  Chastes.  It  consists  of  a  hundred  and  fifteen  small 
quarto  pages.    I  am  indebted  to  M.  Jacques  Viger  for  the  use  of  his  copy. 

A  translation  of  it  was  published  in  1859  by  the  Hakluyt  Society,  with 
notes  and  a  biographical  notice  by  no  means  remarkable  for  accuracy. 


240     LA  ROCHE.  — CHAMPLAIX.  —  DEMONTS.     [160.3. 

tiny  awaited  him,  and  the  work  of  his  life  was 
unfolded.  Aymar  de  Chastes,  Commander  of  the 
Order  of  St.  John  and  Governor  of  Dieppe,  a  gray- 
haired  veteran  of  the  civil  wars,  wished  to  mark 
his  closing  days  with  some  notable  achievement 
for  France  and  the  Church.  To  no  man  was  the 
King  more  deeply  indebted.  In  his  darkest  hour, 
when  the  hosts  of  the  League  were  gathering 
round  him,  when  friends  were  falling  oif,  and  the 
Parisians,  exulting  in  his  certain  ruin,  were  hiring 
the  windows  of  the  Rue  St.  Antoine  to  see  him 
led  to  the  Bastille,  De  Chastes,  without  condition 
or  reserve,  gave  up  to  him  the  town  and  castle  of 
Dieppe.  Thus  he  was  enabled  to  fight  beneath  its 
walls  the  battle  of  Arques,  the  first  in  the  series 
of  successes  which  secured  his  triumph  ;  and  he 
had  been  heard  to  say  that  to  this  friend  in  his 
adversity  he  owed  his  own  salvation  and  that  of 
France. 

De  Chastes  was  one  of  those  men  who,  amid 
the  strife  of  factions  and  rage  of  rival  fanaticisms, 
make  reason  and  patriotism  their  watchwords,  and 
stand  on  the  firm  ground  of  a  strong  and  resolute 
moderation.  He  had  resisted  the  madness  of 
Leaguer  and  Huguenot  alike ;  yet,  though  a  foe  of 
the  League,  the  old  soldier  was  a  devout  Catholic, 
and  it  seemed  in  his  eyes  a  noble  consummation 
of  his  life  to  plant  the  cross  and  the  fleur-de-lis 
in  the  wilderness  of  New  France.  Chauviu  had 
just  died,  after  wasting  the  lives  of  a  score  or  more 
of  men  in  a  second  and  a  third  attempt  to  estab- 
lish the  fur-trade  at  Tadoussac.     De  Chastes  came 


1603.]  DE   CHASTES  AND   CHAMPLAIN.  241 

to  court  to  beg  a  patent  of  Henry  the  Fourth  ; 
"  and,"  says  his  friend  ChampLain,  "  though  his 
head  was  crowned  with  gray  hairs  as  with  years, 
he  resolved  to  proceed  to  New  France  in  person, 
and  dedicate  the  rest  of  his  days  to  the  service  of 
God  and  his  King-."  ^ 

The  patent,  costing  nothing,  was  readily  granted; 
and  De  Chastes,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  enter- 
prise, and  forestall  the  jealousies  which  his  monop- 
oly would  awaken  among  the  keen  merchants  of 
the  western  ports,  formed  a  company  with  the 
more  prominent  of  them.  Pontgrave,  who  had 
some  knowledge  of  the  country,  was  chosen  to 
make  a  preliminary  exploration. 

This  was  the  time  when  Champlain,  fresh  from 
the  West  Indies,  appeared  at  court.  De  Chastes 
knew  him  well.  Young,  ardent,  yet  ripe  in  ex- 
perience, a  skilful  seaman  and  a  practised  soldier, 
he  above  all  others  was  a  man  for  the  enterprise. 
He  had  many  conferences  with  the  veteran,  under 
whom  he  had  served  in  the  royal  fleet  off  the  coast 
of  Brittany.  De  Chastes  urged  him  to  accept  a 
post  in  his  new  company  ;  and  Champlain,  nothing 
loath,  consented,  provided  always  that  permission 
should  be  had  from  the  King,  "to  whom,"  he  says, 
''•'  I  was  bound  no  less  by  birth  than  by  the  pension 
with  which  his  Majesty  honored  me."  To  the 
King,  therefore,  De  Chastes  repaired.  The  need- 
ful consent  was  gained,  and,  armed  with  a  letter  to 
Pontgrave,  Champlain  set  out  for  Honfleur.  Here 
he  found  his  destined  companion,  and  embarking 

1  On  De  Chastes,  Vitet,  Histoire  de  Dieppe,  c.  19,  20,  21. 
16 


242  LA   ROCHE.  — CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE   MONTS.  [1603. 

with  him,  as  we  have  seen,  they  spread  their  sails 
for  the  west. 

Like  specks  on  the  broad  bosom  of  the  waters, 
the  two  pygmy  vessels  held  their  course  up  the 
lonely  St.  Lawrence.  They  passed  abandoned  Ta- 
doussac,  the  channel  of  Orleans,  and  the  gleaming 
cataract  of  Montmorenci ;  the  tenantless  rock  of 
Quebec,  the  wide  Lake  of  St.  Peter  and  its  crowded 
archipelago,  till  now  the  mountain  reared  before 
them  its  rounded  shoulder  above  the  forest-plain 
of  Montreal.  All  was  solitude.  Hochelaga  had 
vanished  ;  and  of  the  savage  population  that  Car- 
tier  had  found  here,  sixty-eight  years  before,  no 
trace  remained.  In  its  place  were  a  few  wander- 
ing Algonquins,  of  different  tongue  and  lineage. 
In  a  skiff,  with  a  few  Indians,  Champlain  essayed 
to  pass  the  rapids  of  St.  Louis.  Oars,  paddles, 
and  poles  alike  proved  vain  against  the  foaming 
surges,  and  he  was  forced  to  return.  On  the  deck 
of  his  vessel,  the  Indians  drew  rude  plans  of  the 
river  above,  with  its  chain  of  rapids,  its  lakes  and 
cataracts ;  and  the  baffled  explorer  turned  his  prow 
homeward,  the  objects  of  his  mission  accomplished, 
but  his  own  adventurous  curiosity  unsated.  When 
the  voyagers  reached  Havre  de  Grace,  a  grievous 
blow  awaited  them.  The  Commander  de  Chastes 
was  dead.-^ 


1  Champlain,  Des  Sauvages  (1604).  Champlain's  Indian  informants 
gave  him  very  confused  accounts.  They  indicated  tlie  Falls  of  Niagara  as 
a  mere  "  rapid."  They  are  laid  down,  however,  in  Champlain's  great  map 
of  16.32  with  the  following  note:  "  Sault  d'eau  au  bout  du  Sault 
[Lac]  Sainct  Louis  fort  hault  oil  plusieurs  sortes  de  poissous  descendans 
s'estourdisseut." 


1604.]  SCHEMES  OF   DE  MONTS.  243 

His  mantle  fell  upon  Pierre  clu  Guast,  Sieiir 
de  Monts,  gentleman  in  ordinary  of  the  King's 
chamber,  and  Governor  of  Pons.  Undaunted  by 
the  fate  of  La  Roche,  this  nobleman  petitioned 
the  king  for  leave  to  colonize  La  Cadie,  or  Aca- 
die,"^  a  region  defined  as  extending  from  the  for- 
tieth to  the  forty-sixth  degree  of  north  latitude, 
or  from  Philadelphia  to  beyond  Montreal.  The 
King's  minister,  Sully,  as  he  himself  tells  us, 
opposed  the  plan,  on  the  ground  that  the  coloni- 
zation of  this  northern  wilderness  would  never 
repay  the  outlay ;  but  De  Monts  gained  his  point. 
He  was  made  Lieutenant-General  in  Acadia,  with 
viceregal  powers ;  and  withered  Feudalism,  with 
her  antique  forms  and  tinselled  follies,  was  again 
to  seek  a  new  home  among  the  rocks  and  pine 
trees  of  Nova  Scotia.  The  foundation  of  the  en- 
terprise was  a  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade,  and  in 
its  favor  all  past  grants  were  unceremoniously 
annulled.  St.  Malo,  Rouen,  Dieppe,  and  Rochelle 
greeted  the  announcement  with  unavailing  out- 
cries. Patents  granted  and  revoked,  monopolies 
decreed  and  extinguished^  had  involved  the  un- 

1  This  name  is  not  found  in  any  earlier  public  document.  It  was  after- 
wards restricted  to  the  peninsula  of  Nova  Scotia,  but  the  dispute  concern- 
ing the  limits  of  Acadia  was  a  proximate  cause  of  the  war  of  1755. 

The  word  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  Indian  Aquoddiauke,  or  Aquod- 
die,  supposed  to  mean  the  fish  called  a  pollock.  The  Bay  of  Passama- 
quoddy,  "  Great  Pollock  Water,"  if  we  may  accept  the  same  authority, 
derives  its  name  from  the  same  origin.  Potter  in  Historical  Magazine,  I. 
84.  This  derivation  is  doubtful.  The  Micmac  word,  Quoddy,  Kadi/,  or 
Cadie,  means  simply  a  place  or  region,  and  is  properly  used  in  conjunc- 
tion with  some  other  noun  ;  as,  for  example,  Katakadi/,  the  Place  of  Eels, 
Siinakadij  (Suuacadie),  the  Place  of  CranherTies,  Pestumoqitoddi/  (Passama- 
quoddy),  the  Place  of  Pollocks.  Dawson  and  Rand,  in  Canadian  Antiqua- 
rian and  Numismatic  Journal. 


244  LA  ROCHE.  — CHAMPLAIN.  —  DE   MONTS.  [1604. 

happy  traders  in  ceaseless  embarrassment.  De 
Monts,  however,  preserved  De  Chastes's  old  com- 
pany, and  enlarged  it,  thus  making  the  chief 
malcontents  sharers  in  his  exclusive  rights,  and 
converting  them  from  enemies  into  partners. 

A  clause  in  his  commission  empowered  him  to 
impress  idlers  and  vagabonds  as  material  for  his 
colony,  an  ominous  provision  of  which  he  largely 
availed  himself.  His  company  was  strangely  in- 
congruous. The  best  and  the  meanest  of  France 
were  crowded  together  in  his  two  ships.  Here 
were  thieves  and  ruffians  dragged  on  board  by 
force,  and  here  were  many  volunteers  of  condition 
and  character,  with  Baron  de  Poutrincourt  and  the 
indefatigable  Champlain.  Here,  too,  were  Catho- 
lic priests  and  Huguenot  ministers ;  for,  though 
De  Monts  was  a  Calvinist,  the  Church,  as  usual, 
displayed  her  banner  in  the  van  of  the  enterprise, 
and  he  was  forced  to  promise  that  he  would  cause 
the  Indians  to  be  instructed  in  the  dogmas  of 
Rome.^ 

1  Articles  proposez  au  Roy  par  le  Sieur  de  Monts;  Conmiissions  du  Roy  et 
de  Monseigneur  I' Admiral  au  Sieur  de  Monts ;  Defenses  du  Roy  Premieres 
et  Secondes,  a  tous  ses  subjects,  autres  que  le  Sieur  de  Monts,  etc.,  de  traffiquer, 
etc.;  Declaration  du  Roy;  Exlraict  des  Reglstres  de  Parlement;  Reman- 
trance  J'aict  au  Roy  par  le  Sieur  de  Monts ;  etc. 


CHAPTER  III. 

1604,  1605. 

ACADIA  OCCUPIED. 

Catholic  and  Calvinist.  —  The  Lost  Priest.  —  St.  Croix.  —  Win- 
ter Miseries.  —  Champlain  on  the  Coast  of  New  England.  — 
Port  Royal. 

De  Monts,  with  one  of  his  vessels,  sailed  from 
Havre  de  Grace  on  the  seventh  of  April,  1604. 
Pontgrave,  with  stores  for  the  colony,  was  to 
follow  in  a  few  days. 

Scarcely  were  they  at  sea,  when  ministers  and 
^priests  fell  first  to  discussion,  then  to  quarrelling, 
then  to  blows.  "  I  have  seen  our  cure  and  the 
minister,"  says  Champlain,  "  fall  to  with  their 
fists  on  questions  of  faith.  I  cannot  say  which 
had  the  more  pluck,  or  which  hit  the  harder;  but 
I  know  that  the  minister  sometimes  complained 
to  the  Sieur  de  Monts  that  he  had  been  beaten. 
This  was  their  way  of  settling  points  of  contro- 
versy. I  leave  you  to  judge  if  it  was  a  pleasant 
thing  to  see."  ^ 

Sagard,  the  Franciscan  friar,  relates  with  horror, 
that,  after  their  destination  was  reached,  a  priest 
and  a  minister  happening  to  die  at  the  same  time, 
the  crew  buried  them  both  in  one  grave,  to  see  if 
they  would  lie  peaceably  together.^ 

1  Champlain,  (1632,)  46.  2  Sagard,  Histoire  du  Canada,  9. 


246  ACADIA  OCCUPIED.  [1604. 

De  Monts,  who  had  been  to  the  St.  Lawrence 
with  Chauvin,  and  learned  to  dread  its  rigorous 
winters,  steered  for  a  more  southern,  and,  as  he 
flattered  himself,  a  milder  region.  The  first  land 
seen  was  Cap  la  Heve,  on  the  southern  coast  of 
Nova  Scotia.  Four  days  later,  they  entered  a 
small  bay,  where,  to  their  surprise,  they  saw  a 
vessel  lying  at  anchor.  Here  was  a  piece  of  good 
luck.  The  stranger  was  a  fur-trader,  pursuing  her 
traffic  in  defiance,  or  more  probably  in  ignorance, 
of  De  Monts's  monopoly.  The  latter,  as  em- 
powered by  his  patent,  made  prize  of  ship  and 
cargo,  consoling  the  commander,  one  Rossignol, 
by  giving  his  name  to  the  scene  of  his  misfortune. 
It  is  now  called  Liverpool  Harl^or. 

In  an  adjacent  harbor,  called  by  them  Port 
Mouton,  because  a  sheep  here  leaped  overboard, 
they  waited  nearly  a  month  for  Pontgrave's 
store-ship.  At  length,  to  their  great  relief,  she 
appeared,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  four  Basque 
fur-traders,  captured  at  Canseau.  The  supplies 
delivered,  Pontgrave  sailed  for  Tadoussac  to  trade 
with  the  Indians,  while  De  Monts,  followed  by  his 
prize,  proceeded  on  his  voyage. 

He  doubled  Cape  Sable,  and  entered  St.  Mary's 
Bay,  where  he  lay  two  weeks,  sending  boats'  crews 
to  explore  the  adjacent  coasts.  A  party  one  day 
went  on  shore  to  stroll  through  the  forest,  and 
among  them  was  Nicolas  Aubry,  a  priest  from 
Paris,  who,  tiring  of  the  scholastic  haunts  of  the 
Rue  de  la  Sorbonne  and  the  Rue  d'Enfer,  had 
persisted,  despite  the  remonstrance  of  his  friends, 


1604.]  THE  LOST  PRIEST.  —  ANNAPOLIS.  247 

in  joining  the  expedition.  Thirsty  with  a  long 
walk,  under  the  sun  of  June,  through  the  tangled 
and  rock-encumbered  woods,  he  stopped  to  drink 
at  a  brook,  laying  his  sword  beside  him  on  the 
grass.  On  rejoining  his  companions,  he  found 
that  he  had  forgotten  it ;  and  turning  back  in 
search  of  it,  more  skilled  in  the  devious  windings 
of  the  Quartier  Latin  than  in  the  intricacies  of  the 
Acadian  forest,  he  soon  lost  his  way.  His  com- 
rades, alarmed,  waited  for  a  time,  and  then  ranged 
the  woods,  shouting  his  name  to  the  echoing  soli- 
tudes. Trumpets  were  sounded,  and  cannon  fired 
from  the  ships,  but  the  priest  did  not  appear.  All 
now  looked  askance  on  a  certain  Huguenot,  with 
whom  Aubry  had  often  quarrelled  on  questions  of 
faith,  and  who  was  now  accused  of  having  killed 
him.  In  vain  he  denied  the  charge.  Aubry  was 
given  up  for  dead,  and  the  ship  sailed  from  St. 
Mary's  Bay  ;  while  the  wretched  priest  roamed  to 
and  fro,  famished  and  despairing,  or,  couched  on 
the  rocky  soil,  in  the  troubled  sleep  of  exhaustion, 
dreamed,  perhaps,  as  the  wind  swept  moaning 
through  the  pines,  that  he  heard  once  more  the 
organ  roll  through  the  columned  arches  of  Sainte 
Genevieve. 

The  voyagers  proceeded  to  explore  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  which  De  Monts  called  La  Baye  FrauQoise. 
Their  first  notable  discovery  was  that  of  Annap- 
olis Harbor.  A  small  inlet  invited  them.  They 
entered,  when  suddenly  the  narrow  strait  dilated 
into  a  broad  and  tranquil  basin,  compassed  by 
sunny  hills,  wrapped  in  woodland  verdure,  and  alive 


248  ACADIA  OCCUPIED.  [1604. 

with  waterfalls.  Poutrincourt  was  delighted  with 
the  scene.  The  fancy  seized  him  of  removing 
thither  from  France  with  his  family ;  and,  to  this 
end,  he  asked  a  grant  of  the  place  from  De  Monts, 
who  by  his  patent  had  nearly  half  the  continent  in 
his  gift.  The  grant  was  made,  and  Poutrincourt 
called  his  new  domain  Port  Royal. 

Thence  they  sailed  round  the  head  of  the  Bay 
of  Fundy,  coasted  its  northern  shore,  visited  and 
named  the  river  St.  John,  and  anchored  at  last  in 
Passamaquoddy  Bay. 

The  untiring  Champlain,  exploring,  surveying, 
sounding,  had  made  charts  of  all  the  principal 
roads  and  harbors ;  ^  and  now,  pursuing  his  re- 
search, he  entered  a  river  which  he  calls  La 
Riviere  des  Etechemins,  from  the  name  of  the 
tribe  of  whom  the  present  Passamaquoddy  Indians 
are  descendants.  Near  its  mouth  he  found  an 
islet,  fenced  round  with  rocks  and  shoals,  and 
called  it  St.  Croix,  a  name  now  borne  by  the  river 
itself.  With  singular  infelicity  this  spot  was 
chosen  as  the  site  of  the  new  colony.  It  com- 
manded the  river,  and  was  well  fitted  for  defence : 
these  were  its  only  merits ;  yet  cannon  were  landed 
on  it,  a  battery  was  planted  on  a  detached  rock  at 
one  end,  and  a  fort  begun  on  a  rising  ground  at 
the  other.^ 

At  St.  Mary's  Bay  the  voyagers  thought  they 
had  found  traces  of  iron  and  silver ;  and  Champ- 
dor^,  the  pilot,  was  now  sent  back  to  pursue  the 

1  See  Champlain,  Voyages,  (1613,)  where  the  charts  are  published. 
*  Lescarbot,  Eist.  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  (1612,)  II.  461. 


J  604.]  ST.  CROIX.  249 

search.  As  lie  and  his  men  lay  at  anchor,  fishing, 
not  far  from  land,  one  of  them  heard  a  strange 
sound,  like  a  weak  human  voice ;  and,  looking 
towards  the  shore,  they  saw  a  small  black  object 
in  motion,  apparently  a  hat  waved  on  the  end  of 
a  stick.  Rowing  in  haste  to  the  spot,  they  found 
the  priest  Aubry.  For  sixteen  days  he  had  wan- 
dered in  the  woods,  sustaining  life  on  berries  and 
wild  fruits ;  and  when,  haggard  and  emaciated,  a 
shadow  of  his  former  self,  Champdore  carried  him 
back  to  St.  Croix,  he  was  greeted  as  a  man  risen 
from  the  grave. 

In  1783  the  river  St.  Croix,  by  treaty,  was 
made  the  boundary  between  Maine  and  New 
Brunswick.  But  which  was  the  true  St.  Croix  ? 
In  1798,  the  point  was  settled.  De  Monts's  island 
was  found ;  and,  painfully  searching  among  the 
sand,  the  sedge,  and  the  matted  whortleberry 
bushes,  the  commissioners  could  trace  the  founda- 
tions of  buildings  long  crumbled  into  dust ;  ^  for 
the  wilderness  had  resumed  its  sway,  and  silence 
and  solitude  brooded  once  more  over  this  ancient 
resting-place  of  civilization. 

But  while  the  commissioner  bends  over  a  moss- 
grown  stone,  it  is  for  us  to  trace  back  the  dim 
vista  of  the  centuries  to  the  life,  the  zeal,  the 
energy,  of  which  this  stone  is  the  poor  memorial. 
The  rock-fenced  islet  was  covered  with  cedars, 
and  when  the  tide  was  out  the  shoals  around  were 
dark  with  the  swash  of  sea-weed,  where,  in  their 
leisure   moments,   the   Frenchmen,   we   are    told, 

1  Holmes,  Anrvxls,  (1829,)  I.  122,  note  1. 


250  ACADIA  OCCUPIED.  [1604. 

amused  themselves  with  detaching  the  limpets 
from  the  stones,  as  a  savory  addition  to  their 
fare.  But  there  was  little  leisure  at  St.  Croix. 
Soldiers,  sailors,  and  artisans  betook  themselves 
to  their  task.  Before  the  winter  closed  in,  the 
northern  end  of  the  island  was  covered  with  build- 
ings, surrounding  a  square,  where  a  solitary  tree 
had  been  left  standing.  On  the  right  was  a  spa- 
cious house,  well  built,  and  surmounted  by  one  of 
those  enormous  roofs  characteristic  of  the  time. 
This  was  the  lodging  of  De  Monts.  Behind  it, 
and  near  the  water,  was  a  long,  covered  gallery, 
for  labor  or  amusement  in  foul  weather.  Cham- 
plain  and  the  Sieur  d'Orville,  aided  by  the  servants 
of  the  latter,  built  a  house  for  themselves  nearly 
opposite  that  of  De  Monts ;  and  the  remainder  of 
the  square  was  occupied  by  storehouses,  a  maga- 
zine, workshops,  lodgings  for  gentlemen  and  arti- 
sans, and  a  barrack  for  the  Swiss  soldiers,  the 
whole  enclosed  with  a  palisade.  Adjacent  there 
was  an  attempt  at  a  garden,  under  the  auspices 
of  Champlain ;  but  nothing  would  grow  in  the 
sandy  soil.  There  was  a  cemetery,  too,  and  a 
small  rustic  chapel  on  a  projecting  point  of  rock. 
Such  was  the  "  Habitation  de  ITsle  Saincte-Croix," 
as  set  forth  by  Champlain  in  quaint  plans  and 
drawings,  in  that  musty  little  quarto  of  1G13,  sold 
by  Jean  Berjon,  at  the  sign  of  the  Flying  Horse, 
Rue  St.  Jean  de  Beauvais. 

Their  labors  over,  Poutrincourt  set  sail  for 
France,  proposing  to  return  and  take  possession 
of  his  domain  of  Port  Royal.     Seventy-nine  men 


/C05.J  SEVERITY  OF  THE   WINTER.  251 

remained  at  St.  Croix.  Here  was  De  Monts,  feudal 
lord  of  half  a  continent  in  virtue  of  two  potent 
syllables,  ''Henri,"  scrawled  on  parchment  by  the 
rugged  hand  of  the  Bearnais.  Here  were  gentle- 
men of  birth  and  breeding,  Champlain,  D'Orville, 
Beaumont,  Sourin,  La  Motte,  Boulay,  and  Fouge- 
ray ;  here  also  were  the  pugnacious  cure  and  his 
fellow  priests,  with  the  Huguenot  ministers,  ob- 
jects of  their  unceasing  ire.  The  rest  were  labor- 
ers, artisans,  and  soldiers,  all  in  the  pay  of  the 
company,  and  some  of  them  forced  into  its  ser- 
vice. 

Poutrincourt's  receding  sails  vanished  between 
the  water  and  the  sky.  The  exiles  were  left  to 
their  solitude.  From  the  Spanish  settlements 
northward  to  the  pole,  there  was  no  domestic 
hearth,  no  lodgment  of  civilized  men,  save  one 
weak  band  of  Frenchmen,  clinging,  as  it  were 
for  life,  to  the  fringe  of  the  vast  and  savage 
continent.  The  gray  and  sullen  autumn  sank 
upon  the  waste,  and  the  bleak  wind  howled  down 
the  St.  Croix,  and  swept  the  forest  bare.  Then 
the  whirling  snow  powdered  the  vast  sweep  of 
desolate  woodland,  and  shrouded  in  white  the 
gloomy  green  of  pine-clad  mountains.  Ice  in 
sheets,  or  broken  masses,  swept  by  their  island 
with  the  ebbing  and  flowing  tide,  often  debarring 
all  access  to  the  main,  and  cutting  off  their  sup- 
plies of  wood  and  water.  A  belt  of  cedars,  in- 
deed, hedged  the  island ;  but  De  Monts  had 
ordered  them  to  be  spared,  that  the  north  wind 
might  spend  something  of  its  force  with  whistling 


252  ACADIA  OCCUPIED.  [1605. 

through  their  shaggy  boughs.  Cider  and  wine 
froze  in  the  casks,  and  were  served  out  by  the 
pound.  As  they  crowded  round  their  half-fed 
fires,  shivering  in  the  icy  currents  that  pierced 
their  rude  tenements,  many  sank  into  a  desperate 
apathy. 

Soon  the  scurvy  broke  out,  and  raged  with  a 
fearful  malignity.  Of  the  seventy-nine,  thirty- 
five  died  before  spring,  and  many  more  were 
brought  to  the  verge  of  death.  In  vain  they 
sought  that  marvellous  tree  which  had  relieved 
the  followers  of  Cartier.  Their  little  cemetery 
was  peopled  with  nearly  half  their  number,  and 
the  rest,  bloated  and  disfigured  with  the  relentless 
malady,  thought  more  of  escaping  from  their  woes 
than  of  building  up  a  Transatlantic  empire.  Yet 
among  them  there  was  one,  at  least,  who,  amid 
languor  and  defection,  held  to  his  purpose  with 
indomitable  tenacity;  and  where  Champlain  was 
present,  there  was  no  room  for  despair. 

Spring  came  at  last,  and,  with  the  breaking  up 
of  the  ice,  the  melting  of  the  snow,  and  the 
clamors  of  the  returning  wild-fowl,  the  spirits 
and  the  health  of  the  woe-begone  company  be- 
gan to  revive.  But  to  misery  succeeded  anxi- 
ety and  suspense.  Where  was  the  succor  from 
France  ?  Were  they  abandoned  to  their  fate  like 
the  wretched  exiles  of  La  Roche?  In  a  happy 
hour,  they  saw  an  approaching  sail.  Pontgrave, 
with  forty  men,  cast  anchor  before  their  island  on 
the  sixteenth  of  June ;  and  they  hailed  him  as  the 
condemned  hails  the  messenger  of  his  pardon. 


J605.J  EXPLORATIONS  OF  CHAMPLAIN.  253 

Weary  of  St.  Croix,  De  Monts  resolved  to  seek 
out  a  more  auspicious  site,  on  wbicli  to  rear  the 
capital  of  his  wilderness  dominion.  During  the  pre- 
ceding September,  Champlain  had  ranged  the  west- 
ward coast  in  a  pinnace,  visited  and  named  the 
island  of  Mount  Desert,  and  entered  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Penobscot,  called  by  him  the  Pemetigoet, 
or  Pentegoet,  and  previously  known  to  fur-traders 
and  fishermen  as  the  Norembega,  a  name  which  it 
shared  with  all  the  adjacent  region.^  Now,  em- 
barking a  second  time,  in  a  bark  of  fifteen  tons, 
with  De  Monts,  several  gentlemen,  twenty  sailors, 
and  an  Indian  with  his  squaw,  he  set  forth  on  the 
eighteenth  of  June  on  a  second  voyage  of  dis- 
covery. They  coasted  the  strangely  indented 
shores  of  Maine,  with  its  reefs  and  surf-washed 
islands,  rocky  headlands,  and  deep  embosomed 
bays,  passed  Mount  Desert  and  the  Penobscot, 
explored  the  mouths  of  the  Kennebec,  crossed 
Casco  Bay,  and  descried  the  distant  peaks  of  the 
White  Mountains.  The  ninth  of  July  brought 
them  to  Saco  Bay.  They  were  now  within  the 
limits  of  a  group  of  tribes  who  were  called  by 
the  French  the  Armouchiquois,  and  who  included 
those  whom  the  English  afterwards  called  the 
Massachusetts.  They  differed  in  habits  as  well 
as  in  language  from  the  Etechemins  and  Micmacs 


1  The  earliest  maiDS  and  narratives  indicate  a  city,  also  called  Norem- 
bega, on  the  banks  of  the  Penobscot.  The  pilot,  Jean  Alphonse,  of  Sain- 
tonge,  says  that  this  fabulous  city  is  fifteen  or  twenty  leagues  from  the 
sea,  and  that  its  inhabitants  are  of  small  stature  and  dark  complexion. 
As  late  as  1607  the  fable  was  repeated  in  the  Histoire  Universelle  dcs  Indes 
Occidentales. 


254  ACADIA  OCCUPIED.  [1605. 

of  Acadia,  for  they  were  tillers  of  the  soil,  and 
around  their  wigwams  were  fields  of  maize,  beans, 
pumpkins,  squashes,  tobacco,  and  the  so-called  Je- 
rusalem artichoke.  Near  Front's  Neck,  more  than 
eighty  of  them  ran  down  to  the  shore  to  meet  the 
strangers,  dancing  and  yelping  to  show  their  joy. 
They  had  a  fort  of  palisades  on  a  rising  ground 
by  the  Saco,  for  they  were  at  deadly  war  with 
their  neighbors  towards  the  east. 

On  the  twelfth,  the  French  resumed  their  voyage, 
and,  like  some  adventurous  party  of  pleasure,  held 
their  course  by  the  beaches  of  York  and  Wells, 
Portsmouth  Harbor,  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  Rye  Beach 
and  Hampton  Beach,  till,  on  the  fifteenth,  they 
descried  the  dim  outline  of  Cape  Ann.  Cham- 
plain  called  it  Cap  aux  Isles,  from  the  three  adja- 
cent islands,  and  in  a  subsequent  voyage  he  gave 
the  name  of  Beauport  to  the  neighboring  harbor 
of  Gloucester.  Thence  steering  southward  and 
westward,  they  entered  Massachusetts  Bay,  gave 
the  name  of  Riviere  du  Guast  to  a  river  flowing 
into  it,  probably  the  Charles ;  passed  the  islands 
of  Boston  Harbor,  which  Champlain  describes  as 
covered  with  trees,  and  were  met  on  the  way  by 
great  numbers  of  canoes  filled  with  astonished 
Indians.  On  Sunday,  the  seventeenth,  they  passed 
Point  AUerton  and  Nantasket  Beach,  coasted  the 
shores  of  Cohasset,  Scituate,  and  Marshfield,  and 
anchored  for  the  night  near  Brant  Point.  On  the 
morning  of  the  eighteenth,  a  head  wind  forced 
them  to  take  shelter  in  Port  St.  Louis,  for  so 
they   called   the  harbor   of   Plymouth,  where  the 


1605.1  PLYMOUTH.  —  CAPE  COD.  255 

Pilgriftis  made  their  memorable  landing  fifteen 
years  later.  Indian  wigwams  and  garden  patches 
lined  the  shore.  A  troop  of  the  inhabitants  came 
down  to  the  beach  and  danced,  wliile  others,  who 
had  been  fishing,  approached  in  their  canoes,  came 
on  board  the  vessel,  and  showed  Champlain  their 
fish-hooks,  consisting  of  a  barbed  bone  lashed  at 
an  acute  angle  to  a  slip  of  wood. 

From  Plymouth  the  party  circled  round  the 
bay,  doubled  Cape  Cod,  called  by  Champlain  Cap 
Blanc,  from  its  glistening  white  sands,  and  steered 
southward  to  Nausett  Harbor,  which,  by  reason  of 
its  shoals  and  sand-bars,  they  named  Port  Malle- 
barre.  Here  their  prosperity  deserted  them.  A 
party  of  sailors  went  behind  the  sand-banks  to 
find  fresh  water  at  a  spring,  when  an  Indian 
snatched  a  kettle  from  one  of  them,  and  its  owner, 
pursuing,  fell,  pierced  with  arrows  by  the  robber's 
comrades.  The  French  in  the  vessel  opened  fire. 
Champlain' s  arquebuse  burst,  and  was  near  killing 
him,  while  the  Indians,  swift  as  deer,  quickly 
gained  the  woods.  Several  of  the  tribe  chanced 
to  be  on  board  the  vessel,  but  flung  themselves 
with  such  alacrity  into  the  water  that  only  one 
was  caught.  They  bound  him  hand  and  foot,  but 
soon  after  humanely  set  him  at  liberty. 

Champlain,  who  we  are  told  "  delighted  marvel- 
lously in  these  enterprises,"  had  busied  himself 
throughout  the  voyage  with  taking  observations, 
making  charts,  and  studying  the  wonders  of  land 
and  sea.  Tlie  "  horse-foot  crab "  seems  to  have 
awakened  his  special  curiosity,  and  he  describes  it 


256  ACADIA   OCCUPIED.  [1605. 

with  amusing  exactness.  Of  the  human  tenants 
of  the  New  England  coast  he  has  also  left  the  first 
precise  and  trustworthy  account.  They  were  clearly 
more  numerous  than  when  the  Puritans  landed  at 
Plymouth,  since  in  the  interval  a  pestilence  made 
great  havoc  among  them.  But  Champlain's  most 
conspicuous  merit  lies  in  the  light  that  he  threw 
into  the  dark  places  of  American  geography,  and 
the  order  that  he  brought  out  of  the  chaos  of 
American  cartography,  for  it  was  a  result  of  this 
and  the  rest  of  his  voyages  that  precision  and 
clearness  began  at  last  to  supplant  the  vagueness, 
confusion,  and  contradiction  of  the  earlier  map- 
makers.^ 

At  Nausett  Harbor  provisions  began  to  fail,  and 
steering  for  St.  Croix  the  voyagers  reached  that 
ill-starred  island  on  the  third  of  August.  De 
Monts  had  found  no  spot  to  his  liking.  He  now 
bethought  him  of  that  inland  harbor  of  Port  Royal 
which  he  had  granted  to  Poutrincourt,  and  thither 
he  resolved  to  remove.  Stores,  utensils,  even  por- 
tions of  the  buildings,  were  placed  on  board  the 
vessels,  carried  across  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and 
landed  at  the  chosen  spot.     It  was  on  the  north 


1  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  University,  and  his  son,  Mr.  Charles  Eliot, 
during  many  yacht  voyages  along  the  New  England  coast,  made  a  study 
of  the  points  visited  by  Champlain.  I  am  indebted  to  them  for  useful 
information,  as  also  to  Mr.  Henry  Mitchell  of  the  Coast  Survey,  who  has 
made  careful  comparisons  of  the  maps  of  Champlain  with  the  present 
features  of  the  places  they  represent.  I  am  also  indebted  to  the  excellent 
notes  of  Rev.  Edmund  F.  Slafter  in  Mr.  Otis's  translation  of  Champlain, 
and  to  those  of  Abbe'  Laverdiere  in  the  Quebec  edition  of  the  Voyac/es, 
1870.  In  the  new  light  from  these  sources,  I  have  revised  former  con- 
clusions touching  several  localities  mentioned  in  the  original  narrative. 


1605.]  PORT  ROYAL.  257 

side  of  the  basin  opposite  Goat  Island,  and  a  little 
below  the  mouth  of  the  river  Annapolis,  called  by 
the  French  the  Equille,  and,  afterwards,  the  Dau- 
phin. The  axemen  began  their  task ;  the  dense 
forest  was  cleared  away,  and  the  buildings  of  the 
infant  colony  soon  rose  in  its  place. 

But  while  De  Monts  and  his  company  were 
struggling  against  despair  at  St.  Croix,  the  enemies 
of  his  monopoly  were  busy  at  Paris ;  and,  by  a 
ship  from  France,  he  was  warned  that  prompt 
measures  were  needed  to  thwart  their  machina- 
tions. Therefore  he  set  sail,  leaving  Pontgrave 
to  command  at  Port  Royal ;  while  Champlain, 
Champdore,  and  others,  undaunted  by  the  past, 
volunteered  for  a  second  winter  in  the  wilder- 
ness. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1605-1G07. 

LESCARBOT   AND   CHAMPLAIN. 

De  Monts  at  Paris.  —  Marc  Lescarbot. — Disaster.  —  Embarka- 
tion. —  Arrival  —  Disappointment.  —  Winter  Life  at  Port 
Royal.  —  L'Ordre  de  Bon-Temps.  —  Hopes  blighted. 

Evil  reports  of  a  churlish  wilderness,  a  pitiless 
climate,  disease,  misery,  and  death,  had  heralded 
the  arrival  of  De  Monts.  The  outlay  had  been 
great,  the  returns  small ;  and  when  he  reached 
Paris,  he  found  his  friends  cold,  his  enemies  active 
and  keen.  Poutrincourt,  however,  was  still  full  of 
zeal ;  and,  though  his  private  affairs  urgently  called 
for  his  presence  in  France,  he  resolved,  at  no  small 
sacrifice,  to  go  in  person  to  Acadia.  He  had,  more- 
over, a  friend  who  proved  an  invaluable  ally. 
This  was  Marc  Lescarbot,  "  avocat  en  Parlement," 
who  had  been  roughly  handled  by  fortune,  and 
was  in  the  mood  for  such  a  venture,  being  desirous, 
as  he  tells  us,  "  to  fly  from  a  corrupt  world,"  in 
which  he  had  just  lost  a  lawsuit.  Unlike  De 
Monts,  Poutrincourt,  and  others  of  his  associates, 
he  was  not  within  the  pale  of  the  noblesse,  belong- 
ing to  the  class  of  "gens  de  robe,"  which  stood 
at  the  head  of  the  bourgeoisie,  and  which,  in  its 
higher  grades,  formed  within  itself  a  virtual  nobil- 


1605.]  MARC  LESCARBOT.  259 

ity.  Lescarbot  was  no  common  man.  Not  that 
his  abundant  gift  of  verse-making  was  likely  to 
avail  much  in  the  woods  of  New  France,  nor  yet 
his  classic  lore,  dashed  with  a  little  harmless  ped- 
antry, born  not  of  the  man,  but  of  the  times. 
But  his  zeal,  his  good  sense,  the  vigor  of  his 
understanding,  and  the  breadth  of  his  views,  were 
as  conspicuous  as  his  quick  wit  and  his  lively 
fancy.  One  of  the  best,  as  well  as  earliest,  records 
of  the  early  settlement  of  North  America  is  due  to 
his  pen  ;  and  it  has  been  said,  with  a  certain  degree 
of  truth,  that  he  was  no  less  able  to  build  up  a 
colony  than  to  write  its  history.  He  professed 
himself  a  Catholic,  but  his  Catholicity  sat  lightly 
on  him,  and  he  might  have  passed  for  one  of  those 
amphibious  religionists  who  in  the  civil  wars  were 
called  "  Les  Politiques." 

De  Monts  and  Poutrincourt  bestirred  themselves 
to  find  a  priest,  since  the  foes  of  the  enterprise 
had  been  loud  in  lamentation  that  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  Indians  had  been  slighted.  "  But  it 
was  Holy  Week.  All  the  priests  were,  or  pro- 
fessed to  be,  busy  with  exercises  and  confessions, 
and  not  one  could  be  found  to  undertake  the  mis- 
sion of  Acadia.  They  were  more  successful  in 
engaging  mechanics  and  laborers  for  the  voyage. 
These  were  paid  a  portion  of  their  wages  in  ad- 
vance, and  were  sent  in  a  body  to  Roclielle,  con- 
signed to  two  merchants  of  that  port,  members  of 
the  company.  De  Monts  and  Poutrincourt  went 
thither  by  post.  Lescarbot  soon  followed,  and  no 
sooner    reached    Rochelle    than    he    penned    and 


260  LESCAKBOT  AND  CHAMPLAIN.  [ifioe. 

printed   his  Adieu   a   la  France,   a   poom   which 
gained  for  him  some  credit. 

More  serious  matters  awaited  him,  however, 
than  this  dalliance  with  the  Muse.  Rochelle  was 
the  centre  and  citadel  of  Calvinism,  a  town  of 
austere  and  grim  aspect,  divided,  like  Cisatlantic 
communities  of  later  growth,  betwixt  trade  and 
religion,  and,  in  the  interest  of  both,  exacting  a 
deportment  of  discreet  and  well-ordered  sobriety. 
"  One  must  walk  a  strait  path  here,"  says  Les- 
carbot,  "  unless  he  would  hear  from  the  mayor  or 
the  ministers."  But  the  mechanics  sent  from 
Paris,  flush  of  money,  and  lodged  together  in  the 
quarter  of  St.  Nicolas,  made  day  and  night  hide- 
ous with  riot,  and  their  employers  found  not  a  few 
of  them  in  the  hands  of  the  police.  Their  ship, 
bearing  the  inauspicious  name  of  the  Jonas,  lay 
anchored  in  the  stream,  her  cargo  on  board,  when 
a  sudden  gale  blew  her  adrift.  She  struck  on  a 
pier,  then  grounded  on  the  flats,  bilged,  careened, 
and  set'tled  in  the  mud.  Her  captain,  who  was 
ashore,  with  Poutrincourt,  Lescarbot,  and  others, 
hastened  aboard,  and  the  pumps  were  set  in 
motion ;  while  all  Rochelle,  we  are  told,  came  to 
gaze  from  the  ramparts,  with  faces  of  condolence, 
but  at  heart  well  pleased  with  the  disaster.  The 
ship  and  her  cargo  were  saved,  but  she  must  be 
emptied,  repaired,  and  reladen.  Thus  a  month 
was  lost ;  at  length,  on  the  thirteenth  of  May, 
1606,  the  disorderly  crew  were  all  brought  on 
board,  and  the  Jonas  put  to  sea.  Poutrincourt 
and  Lescarbot  had  charge  of  the  expedition,  De 
Monts  remaining  in  France. 


1606.]  ARRIVAL   AT   PORT   ROYAL.  2G1 

Lescarbot  describes  his  emotions  at  finding  him- 
self on  an  element  so  deficient  in  solidity,  with 
only  a  two-inch  plank  between  him  and  death. 
Off  the  Azores,  they  spoke  a  supposed  pirate.  For 
the  rest,  they  beguiled  the  voyage  by  harpooning 
porpoises,  dancing  on  deck  in  calm  weather,  and 
fishing  for  cod  on  the  Grand  Bank.  They  were 
two  months  on  their  way,  and  when,  fevered  with 
eagerness  to  reach  land,  they  listened  hourly  for 
the  welcome  cry,  they  were  involved  in  impene- 
trable fogs.  Suddenly  the  mists  parted,  the  sun 
shone  forth,  and  streamed  fair  and  bright  over  the 
fresh  hills  and  forests  of  the  New  World,  in  near 
view  before  them.  But  the  black  rocks  lay  be- 
tween, lashed  by  the  snow-white  breakers.  '^  Thus," 
writes  Lescarbot,  "  doth  a  man  sometimes  seek  the 
land  as  one  doth  his  beloved,  wlio  sometimes  re- 
pulseth  her  sweetheart  very  rudely.  Finally,  upon 
Saturday,  the  fifteenth  of  July,  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  the  sky  began  to  salute  us  as  it 
were  with  cannon-shots,  shedding  tears,  as  being 
sorry  to  have  kept  us  so  long  in  pain  ;  .  .  .  .  but, 
whilst  we  followed  on  our  course,  there  came  from 
the  land  odors  incomparable  for  sweetness,  brought 
with  a  warm  wind  so  abundantly  that  all  the  ori- 
ent parts  could  not  produce  greater  abundance. 
We  did  stretch  out  our  hands  as  it  were  to  take 
them,  so  palpable  were  they,  which  I  have  admired 
a  thousand  times  since."  ^ 

It  was  noon  on  the  twenty-seventh  when  the 
Jonas  passed   the  rocky  gateway  of   Port  Royal 

1  The  translation  is  that  of  Purchas,  Nova  Francia,  c.  12. 


262  LESCARBOT   AND   CHAMPLAIN.  [1606. 

Basin,  and  Lescarbot  gazed  with  delight  and  won- 
der on  the  calm  expanse  of  sunny  waters,  with  its 
amphitheatre  of  woody  hills,  wherein  he  saw  the 
future  asylum  of  distresseti  merit  and  impoverished 
industry.  Slowly,  before  a  favoring  breeze,  they 
held  their  course  towards  the  head  of  the  harbor, 
Avhich  narrowed  as  they  advanced  ;  but  all  was  soli- 
tude ;  no  moving  sail,  no  sign  of  human  presence. 
At  length,  on  their  left,  nestling  in  deep  forests, 
they  saw  the  wooden  walls  and  roofs  of  the  infant 
colony.  Then  appeared  a  birch  canoe,  cautiously 
coming  towards  them,  guided  by  an  old  Indian. 
Then  a  Frenchman,  arquebuse  in  hand,  came  down 
to  the  shore ;  and  then,  from  the  wooden  bastion, 
sprang  the  smoke  of  a  saluting  shot.  The  ship 
replied ;  the  trumpets  lent  their  voices  to  the 
din,  and  the  forests  and  the  hills  gave  back  un- 
wonted echoes.  The  voyagers  landed,  and  found 
the  colony  of  Port  Royal  dwindled  to  two  solitary 
Frenchmen. 

These  soon  told  their  story.  The  preceding  win- 
ter had  been  one  of  much  suffering,  though  by  no 
means  the  counterpart  of  the  woful  experience  of 
St.  Croix.  But  when  the  spring  had  passed,  the 
summer  far  advanced,  and  still  no  tidings  of  De 
Monts  had  come,  Pontgrave  grew  deeply  anxious. 
To  maintain  themselves  without  supplies  and  suc- 
cor was  impossible.  He  caused  two  small  vessels 
to  b^  built,  and  set  out  in  search  of  some  of  the 
French  vessels  on  the  fishing-stations.  This  was 
but  twelve  days  before  the  arrival  of  the  ship 
Jonas.     Two  men  had  bravely  offered  themselves 


1606.]  REUNION.  2G3 

to  stay  behind  and  guard  the  buildings,  guns,  and 
munitions ;  and  an  old  Indian  chief,  named  Mem- 
bertou,  a  fast  friend  of  the  French,  and  still  a 
redoubted  warrior,  we  are  told,  though  reputed 
to  number  more  than  a  hundred  years,  proved  a 
stanch  ally.  When  the  ship  approached,  the  two 
guardians  were  at  dinner  in  their  room  at  the  fort. 
Membertou,  always  on  the  watch,  saw  the  advan- 
cing sail,  and,  shouting  from  the  gate,  roused  them 
from  their  repast.  In  doubt  who  the  new-comers 
might  be,  one  ran  to  the  shore  with  his  gun,  while 
the  other  repaired  to  the  platform  where  four  can- 
non were  mounted,  in  the  valorous  resolve  to  show 
fight  should  the  strangers  prove  to  be  enemies. 
Happily  this  redundancy  of  mettle  proved  needless. 
He  saw  the  white  flag  fluttering  at  the  masthead, 
and  joyfully  fired  his  pieces  as  a  salute. 

The  voyagers  landed,  and  eagerly  surveyed  their 
new  home.  Some  wandered  through  the  build- 
ings ;  some  visited  the  cluster  of  Indian  wigwams 
hard  by ;  some  roamed  in  the  forest  and  over  the 
meadows  that  bordered  the  neighboring  river.  The 
deserted  fort  now  swarmed  with  life  ;  and,  the  bet- 
ter to  celebrate  their  prosperous  arrival,  Poutrin- 
court  placed  a  hogshead  of  wine  in  the  courtyard 
at  the  discretion  of  his  followers,  whose  hilarity,  in 
consequence,  became  exuberant.  Nor  was  it  dimin- 
ished when  Pontgrave's  vessels  were  seen  entering 
the  harbor.  A  boat  sent  by  Poutrincourt,  more 
than  a  week  before,  to  explore  the  coasts,  had  met 
them  near  Cape  Sable,  and  they  joyfully  returned 
to  Port  Royal. 


264  LESCARBOT  AND  CHAMPLAIX.  [1606. 

Pontgrave,  however,  soon  sailed  for  France  in 
the  Jonas,  hoping  on  his  way  to  seize  certain  con- 
traband fur-traders,  reported  to  be  at  Canseau  and 
Cape  Breton.  Poutrincourt  and  Champlain,  bent 
on  finding  a  better  site  for  their  settlement  in  a 
more  southern  latitude,  set  out  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, in  an  ill-built  vessel  of  eighteen  tons,  while 
Lescarbot  remained  in  charge  of  Port  Royal.  They 
had  little  for  their  pains  but  danger,  hardship,  and 
mishap.  The  autumn  gales  cut  short  their  explo- 
ration ;  and,  after  visiting  Gloucester  Harbor,  dou- 
bling Monomoy  Point,  and  advancing  as  far  as  the 
neighborhood  of  Hyannis,  on  the  southeast  coast 
of  Massachusetts,  they  turned  back,  somewhat  dis- 
gusted with  their  errand.  Along  the  eastern  verge 
of  Cape  Cod  they  found  the  shore  thickly  studded 
with  the  wigwams  of  a  race  who  were  less  hunters 
than  tillers  of  the  soil.  At  Chatham  Harbor  — 
called  by  them  Port  Fortune  —  five  of  the  com- 
pany, who,  contrary  to  orders,  had  remained  on 
shore  all  night,  were  assailed,  as  they  slept  around 
their  fire,  by  a  shower  of  arrows  from  four  hundred 
Indians.  Two  were  killed  outright,  while  the  sur- 
vivors fled  for  their  boat,  bristled  like  porcupines 
with  the  feathered  missiles,  —  a  scene  oddly  por- 
trayed by  the  untutored  pencil  of  Champlain.  He 
and  Poutrincourt,  with  eight  men,  hearing  the 
war-whoops  and  the  cries  for  aid,  sprang  up  from 
sleep,  snatched  their  weapons,  pulled  ashore  in  their 
shirts,  and  charged  the  yelling  multitude,  who  fled 
before  their  spectral  assailants,  and  vanished  in  the 
woods.     "  Thus,"  observes  Lescarbot,  "  did  thirty- 


I606,j    ANOTHER  VOYAGE  TO  NEW  ENGLAND.     265 

five  thousand  Midianites  fly  before  Gideon  and  his 
three  hundred."  The  French  buried  their  dead 
comrades ;  but,  as  they  chanted  their  funeral 
hymn,  the  Indians,  at  a  safe  distance  on  a  neigh- 
boring hill,  were  dancing  in  glee  and  triumph,  and 
mocking  them  with  unseemly  gestures ;  and  no 
sooner  had  the  party  re-embarked,  than  they  dug 
uj)  the  dead  bodies,  burnt  them,  and  arrayed  them- 
selves in  their  shirts.  Little  pleased  with  the 
country  or  its  inhabitants,  the  voyagers  turned 
their  prow  towards  Port  Royal,  though  not  until, 
by  a  treacherous  device,  they  had  lured  some  of 
their  late  assailants  within  their  reach,  killed  them, 
and  cut  off  their  heads  as  trophies.  Near  Mount 
Desert,  on  a  stormy  night,  their  rudder  broke,  and 
they  had  a  hair-breadth  escape  from  destruction. 
The  chief  object  of  their  voyage,  that  of  discover- 
ing a  site  for  their  colony  under  a  more  southern 
sky,  had  failed.  Pontgrave's  son  had  his  hand 
blown  oif  hy  the  bursting  of  his  gun ;  several  of 
their  number  had  been  killed ;  others  were  sick  or 
wounded ;  and  thus,  on  the  fourteenth  of  Novem- 
ber, with  somewhat  downcast  visages,  they  guided 
their  helpless  vessel  with  a  pair  of  oars  to  the 
landing  at  Port  Royal. 

"I  will  not,"  says  Lescarbot,  "compare  their 
perils  to  those  of  Ulysses,  nor  yet  of  ^neas,  lest 
thereby  I  should  sully  our  holy  enterprise  with 
things  impure." 

He  and  his  followers  had  been  expecting  them 
with  great  anxiety.  His  alert  and  buoyant  spirit 
had  conceived  a  plan  for  enlivening  the  courage 


266  LESCARBOT    AND  CHAMPLAIN.  [1606. 

of  the  company,  a  little  dashed  of  late  by  misgiv- 
ings and  forebodings.  Accordingly,  as  Poutrin- 
court,  Champlain,  and  their  weather-beaten  crew 
approached  the  wooden  gateway  of  Port  Royal, 
Neptune  issued  forth,  followed  by  his  tritons,  who 
greeted  the  voyagers  in  good  French  verse,  written 
in  all  haste  for  the  occasion  by  Lescarbot.  And, 
as  they  entered,  they  beheld,  blazoned  over  the 
arch,  the  arms  of  France,  circled  with  laurels,  and 
flanked  by  the  scutcheons  of  De  Monts  and  Pou- 
trincourt.^ 

The  ingenious  author  of  these  devices  had  busied 
himself,  during  the  absence  of  his  associates,  in 
more  serious  labors  for  the  welfare  of  the  colony. 
He  explored  the  low  borders  of  the  river  Equille, 
or  Annapolis.  Here,  in  the  solitude,  he  saw  great 
meadows,  where  the  moose,  with  their  young,  were 
grazing,  and  where  at  times  the  rank  grass  was 
beaten  to  a  pulp  by  the  trampling  of  their  hoofs. 
He  burned  the  grass,  and  sowed  crops  of  wheat, 
rye,  and  barley  in  its  stead.  His  ajDpearance  gave 
so  little  promise  of  personal  vigor,  that  some  of  the 
party  assured  him  that  he  would  never  see  France 
again,  and  warned  hira  to  husband  his  strength ; 
but  he  knew  himself  better,  and  set  at  naught  these 
comforting  monitions.  He  was  the  most  diligent  of 
workers.  He  made  gardens,  near  the  fort,  where, 
in  his  zeal,  he  plied  the  hoe  with  his  own  hands 
late  into  the  moonlight  evenings.  The  priests,  of 
whom  at  the  outset  there  had  been  no  lack,  had  all 

^  Lescarbot,  Muses  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  where  the  programme  ia 
given,  and  the  speeches  of  Neptune  and  the  tritons  in  full. 


IG07.J  PORT   ROYAL.  267 

succumbed  to  the  scurvy  at  St.  Croix ;  and  Lescar- 
bot,  so  far  as  a  layman  might,  essayed  to  supply 
their  place,  reading  on  Sundays  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  adding  expositions  of  his  owii  after  a 
fashion  not  remarkable  for  rigorous  Catholicity. 
Of  an  evening,  when  not  engrossed  with  his  gar- 
den, he  was  reading  or  writing  in  his  room,  per- 
haps preparing  the  material  of  that  History  of 
New  France  in  which,  despite  the  versatility  of 
his  busy  brain,  his  good  sense  and  capacity  are 
clearly  made  manifest. 

Now,  however,  when  the  whole  company  were 
reassembled,  Lescarbot  found  associates  more  con- 
genial than  the  rude  soldiers,  mechanics,  and  labor- 
ers who  gathered  at  night  around  the  blazing  logs 
in  their  rude  hall.  Port  Royal  was  a  quadrangle 
of  wooden  buildings,  enclosing  a  spacious  court. 
At  the  southeast  corner  was  the  arched  gateway, 
whence  a  path,  a  few  paces  in  length,  led  to  the 
water.  It  was  flanked  by  a  sort  of  bastion  of  pal- 
isades, while  at  the  southwest  corner  was  another 
bastion,  on  which  four  cannon  were  mounted.  On 
the  east  side  of  the  quadrangle  was  a  range  of 
magazines  and  storehouses ;  on  the  west  were 
quarters  for  the  men ;  on  the  north,  a  dining-hall 
and  lodgings  for  the  principal  persons  of  the  com- 
pany ;  while  on  the  south,  or  water  side,  were  the 
kitchen,  the  forge,  and  the  oven.  Except  the  gar- 
den-patches and  the  cemetery,  the  adjacent  ground 
was  thickly  studded  with  the  stumps  of  the  newly 
felled  trees. 

Most  bountiful  provision  had  been  made  for  the 


268  LESCARBOT  AND  CHAMPLAIX.  [1606. 

temporal  wants  of  the  colonists,  and  Lescarbot  is 
profuse  in  praise  of  the  liberality  of  De  Monts  and 
two  merchants  of  Rochelle,  who  had  freighted  the 
ship  Jonas.  Of  wine,  in  particular,  the  supply  was 
so  generous,  that  every  man  in  Port  Royal  was 
served  with  three  pints  daily. 

The  principal  persons  of  the  colony  sat,  fifteen 
in  number,  at  Poutrincourt's  table,  which,  by  an 
ingenious  device  of  Champlain,  was  always  well 
furnished.  He  formed  the  fifteen  into  a  new 
order,  christened  "  L'Ordre  de  Bon-Temps."  Each 
was  Grand  Master  in  turn,  holding  office  for  one 
day.  It  was  his  function  to  cater  for  the  com- 
pany ;  and,  as  it  became  a  point  of  honor  to  fill 
the  post  with  credit,^  the  prospective  Grand  Master 
was  usually  busy,  for  several  days  before  coming 
to  his  dignity,  in  hunting,  fishing,  or  bartering 
provisions  with  the  Indians.  Thus  did  Poutrin- 
court's table  groan  beneath  all  the  luxuries  of  the 
winter  forest :  flesh  of  moose,  caribou,  and  deer, 
beaver,  otter,  and  hare,  bears  and  wild-cats ;  with 
ducks,  geese,  grouse,  and  plover;  sturgeon,  too, 
and  trout,  and  fish  innumerable,  speared  through 
the  ice  of  the  Equille,  or  drawn  from  the  depths 
of  the  neighboring  bay.  "  And,"  says  Lescarbot, 
in  closing  his  bill  of  fare,  "  whatever  our  gour- 
mands at  home  may  think,  we  found  as  good  cheer 
at  Port  Royal  as  they  at  their  Rue  aux  Ours  ^  in 
Paris,  and  that,  too,  at  a  cheaper  rate."  For  the 
preparation  of  this  manifold  provision,  the  Grand 

1  A  short  street  between  Rue  St.  Martin  and  Rue  St.  Denis,  once  re- 
nowned for  its  restaurants. 


1606.]  L'ORDRE   DE   BON-TEMPS.  269 

Master  was  also  answerable ;  since,  during  his  day 
of  office,  he  was  autocrat  of  the  kitchen. 

Nor  did  this  bounteous  repast  lack  a  solemn 
and  befitting  ceremonial.  When  the  hour  had 
struck,  —  after  the  manner  of  our  fathers  they 
dined  at  noon,  —  the  Grand  Master  entered  the 
hall,  a  napkin  on  his  shoulder,  his  staff  of  office  in 
his  hand,  and  the  collar  of  the  Order  —  valued  by 
Lescarbot  at  four  crowns  —  about  his  neck.  The 
brotherhood  followed,  each  bearing  a  dish.  The 
invited  guests  were  Indian  chiefs,  of  whom  old 
Membertou  was  daily  present,  seated  at  table  with 
the  French,  who  took  pleasure  in  this  red-skin 
companionship.  Those  of  humbler  degree,  war- 
riors, squawks,  and  children,  sat  on  the  floor,  or 
crouched  together  in  the  corners  of  the  hall, 
eagerly  waiting  their  portion  of  biscuit  or  of  bread, 
a  novel  and  much  coveted  luxury.  Being  always 
treated  with  kindness,  they  became  fond  of  the 
French,  who  often  followed  them  on  their  moose- 
hunts,  and  shared  their  winter  bivouac. 

At  the  evening  meal  there  was  less  of  form  and 
circumstance ;  and  when  the  winter  night  closed  in, 
when  the  flame  crackled  and  the  sparks  streamed 
up  the  wide-throated  chimney,  and  the  founders  of 
New  France  with  their  tawny  allies  were  gathered 
around  the  blaze,  then  did  the  Grand  Master  re- 
sign the  collar  and  the  staff  to  the  successor  of  his 
honors,  and,  with  jovial  courtesy,  pledge  him  in  a 
cup  of  wine.^  Thus  these  ingenious  Frenchmen 
beguiled  the  winter  of  their  exile. 

1  Lescarbot,  (1612,)  II.  581. 


270  LESCARBOT   AND   CHAMPLAIN.  11607. 

It  was  an  unusually  mild  winter.  Until  Jan- 
uary, they  wore  no  warmer  garment  than  their 
doublets.  They  made  hunting  and  fishing  parties, 
in  which  the  Indians,  whose  lodges  were  always  to 
be  seen  under  the  friendly  shelter  of  the  buildings, 
failed  not  to  bear  part.  "  I  remember,"  says  Les- 
carbot,  "  that  on  the  fourteenth  of  January,  of  a 
Sunday  afternoon,  we  amused  ourselves  with  sing- 
ing and  music  on  the  river  Equille,  and  that  in 
the  same  month  we  went  to  see  the  wheat-fields 
two  leagues  from  the  fort,  and  dined  merrily  in 
the  sunshine." 

Good  spirits  and  good  cheer  saved  them  in  great 
measure  from  the  scurvy,  and  though  towards  the 
end  of  winter  severe  cold  set  in,  yet  only  four  men 
died.  The  snow  thawed  at  last,  and  as  patches  of 
the  black  and  oozy  soil  began  to  appear,  they  saw 
the  grain  of  their  last  autumn's  sowing  already 
piercing  the  mould.  The  forced  inaction  of  the 
winter  was  over.  The  carpenters  built  a  water- 
mill  on  the  stream  now  called  Allen's  River ; 
others  enclosed  fields  and  laid  out  gardens  ;  others, 
again,  with  scoop-nets  and  baskets,  caught  the  her- 
rings and  ale  wives  as  they  ran  u})  the  innumerable 
rivulets.  The  leaders  of  the  colony  set  a  con- 
tagious example  of  activity.  Poutrincourt  forgot 
the  prejudices  of  his  noble  birth,  and  went  himself 
into  the  woods  to  gather  turpentine  from  the  pines, 
which  he  converted  into  tar  by  a  process  of  his 
own  invention  ;  while  Lescarbot,  eager  to  test  the 
qualities  of  the  soil,  was  again,  hoe  in  hand,  at 
work  all  day  in  his  garden. 


J607.]  HOPES  BLIGHTED.  271 

All  seemed  full  of  promise ;    but  alas  for  the 
bright  hope  that  kindled  the  manly  heart  of  Cham- 
plain  and  the  earnest  spirit  of  the  vivacious  advo- 
cate !      A  sudden  blight  fell  on  them,  and  their 
rising  prosperity  withered  to  the  ground.     On  a 
morning,   late  in  spring,  as  the  French  were  at 
breakfast,  the  ever  watchful  Membertou  came  in 
with  new^s  of  an  approaching  sail.     They  hastened 
to  the  shore ;   but  the  vision  of   the   centenarian 
sagamore  put  them  all  to  shame.     They  could  see 
nothing.      At  length  their  doubts  were  resolved. 
A  small  vessel   stood   on  towards  them,  and  an- 
chored before  the  fort.     She  was  commanded  by 
one  Chevalier,  a  young  man  from  St.  Malo,  and 
was  freighted  with  disastrous  tidings.     De  Mbnts's 
monopoly  was  rescinded.     The  life  of  the  enter- 
prise was  stopped,  and  the  establishment  at  Port 
Eoyal   could   no  longer  be  supported ;   for  its  ex- 
pense was  great,   the  body  of   the  colony  being 
laborers  in  the  pay  of  the  company.     Nor  was  the 
annulling  of  the  patent  the  full  extent  of  the  dis- 
aster ;   for,  during  the  last  summer,  the  Dutch  had 
found  their  way  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  carried 
away  a  rich  harvest   of  furs,  while  other  inter- 
loping traders  had  pUed  a  busy  traffic  along  the 
coasts,  and,  in  the  excess  of  their  avidity,  dug  up 
the  bodies  of  buried  Indians  to  rob  them  of  their 
funeral  robes. 

It  was  to  the  merchants  and  fishermen  of  the 
Norman,  Breton,  and  Biscayan  ports,  exasperated 
at  their  exclusion  from  a  lucrative  trade,  and  at 
the  confiscations  which  had   sometimes   followed 


272  LESCARBOT  AND  CHAMPLAIN.  [1607. 

tlieir  attempts  to  engage  in  it,  that  this  sudden 
blow  was  due.  Money  had  been  used  freely  at 
court,  and  the  monopoly,  unjustly  granted,  had 
been  more  unjustly  withdrawn.  De  Monts  and 
his  company,  who  had  spent  a  hundred  thousand 
livres,  were  allowed  six  thousand  in  requital,  to 
be  collected,  if  possible,  from  the  fur-traders  in  the 
form  of  a  tax. 

Chevalier,  captain  of  the  ill-omened  bark,  was 
entertained  with  a  hospitality  little  deserved,  since, 
having  been  entrusted  with  sundry  hams,  fruits, 
spices,  sweetmeats,  jellies,  and  other  dainties,  sent 
by  the  generous  De  Monts  to  his  friends  of  New 
France,  he  with  his  crew  had  devoured  them  on 
the  voyage,  alleging  that,  in  their  belief,  the  in- 
mates of  Port  Royal  would  all  be  dead  before  their 
arrival. 

Choice  there  was  none,  and  Port  Royal  must  be 
abandoned.  Built  on  a  false  basis,  sustained  only 
by  the  fleeting  favor  of  a  government,  the  gener- 
ous enterprise  had  come  to  naught.  Yet  Poutrin- 
court,  who  in  virtue  of  his  grant  from  De  Monts 
owned  the  place,  bravely  resolved  that,  come  what 
might,  he  would  see  the  adventure  to  an  end,  even 
should  it  involve  emigration  with  his  family  to  the 
wilderness.  Meanwhile,  he  began  the  dreary  task 
of  abandonment,  sending  boat-loads  of  men  and 
stores  to  Canseau,  where  lay  the  ship  Jonas,  eking 
out  her  diminished  profits  by  fishing  for  cod. 

Membertou  was  full  of  grief  at  the  departure  of 
his  f-riends.  He  had  built  a  palisaded  village  not 
far  from  Port  Royal,  and  here  were  mustered  some 


1607]  PORT  ROYAL  ABANDONED.  273 

four  hundred  of  his  warriors  for  a  foray  into  the 
country  of  the  Armouchiquois,  dwellers  along  the 
coasts  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire,  and  West- 
ern Maine.  One  of  his  tribesmen  had  been  killed 
by  a  chief  from  the  Saco,  and  he  was  bent  on 
revenge.  He  proved  himself  a  sturdy  beggar,  pur- 
suing Poutrincourt  with  daily  petitions,  now  for  a 
bushel  of  beans,  now  for  a  basket  of  bread,  and 
now  for  a  barrel  of  wine  to  regale  his  greasy  crew. 
Membertou's  long  life  had  not  been  one  of  repose. 
In  deeds  of  blood  and  treachery  he  had  no  rival  in 
the  Acadian  forest ;  and,  as  his  old  age  was  beset 
with  enemies,  his  alliance  with  the  French  had  a 
foundation  of  policy  no  less  than  of  affection.  In 
right  of  his  rank  of  Sagamore,  he  claimed  per- 
fect equality  both  with  Poutrincourt  and  with  the 
King,  laying  his  shrivelled  forefingers  together  in 
token  of  friendship  between  peers.  Calumny  did 
not  spare  him ;  and  a  rival  chief  intimated  to  the 
French,  that,  under  cover  of  a  war  with  the  x\r- 
mouchiquois,  the  crafty  veteran  meant  to  seize  and 
plunder  Port  Royal.  Precautions,  therefore,  were 
taken ;  but  they  were  seemingly  needless ;  for, 
their  feasts  and  dances  over,  the  warriors  launched 
their  birchen  flotilla  and  set  out.  After  an  absence 
of  six  weeks  they  reappeared  with  howls  of  victory, 
and  their  exploits  were  commemorated  in  French 
verse  by  the  muse  of  the  indefatigable  Lescarbot.^ 

With  a  heavy  heart  the  advocate  bade  farewell 
to  the  dwellings,  the  cornfields,  the  gardens,  and  all 
the  dawning  prosperity  of  Port  Royal,  and  sailed 

1  See  Muses  de  la  Nouvelle  France. 
18 


274  LESCARBOT  AND   CHAMPLAIN.  [1607. 

for  Canseau  in  a  small  vessel  on  the  thirtieth  of 
July.  Poiitrincourt  and  Champlain  remained  be- 
hind, for  the  former  was  resolved  to  learn  before 
his  departure  the  results  of  his  agricultural  labors. 
Reaching  a  harbor  on  the  southern  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia,  six  leagues  west  of  Canseau,  Lescarbot  found 
a  fishing-vessel  commanded  and  owned  by  an  old 
Basque,  named  Savalet,  who  for  forty-two  succes- 
sive years  had  carried  to  France  his  annual  cargo 
of  codfish.  He  was  in  great  glee  at  the  success  of 
his  present  venture,  reckoning  his  profits  at  ten 
thousand  francs.  The  Indians,  however,  annoyed 
him  beyond  measure,  boarding  him  from  their 
canoes  as  his  fishing-boats  came  alongside,  and 
helping  themselves  at  will  to  his  halibut  and  cod. 
At  Canseau  —  a  harbor  near  the  strait  now  bearing 
the  name  —  the  ship  Jonas  still  lay,  her  hold  well 
stored  with  fish ;  and  here,  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  August,  Lescarbot  was  rejoined  by  Poutrincourt 
and  Champlain,  who  had  come  from  Port  Royal  in 
an  open  boat.  For  a  few  days,  they  amused  them- 
selves with  gathering  raspberries  on  the  islands ; 
then  they  spread  their  sails  for  France,  and  early 
in  October,  1607,  anchored  in  the  harbor  of  St. 
Malo. 

First  of  Europeans,  they  had  essayed  to  found  an 
agricultural  colony  in  the  New  World.  The  lead- 
ers of  the  enterprise  had  acted  less  as  merchants 
than  as  citizens ;  and  the  fur-trading  monopoly, 
odious  in  itself,  had  been  used  as  the  instrument  of 
a  large  and  generous  design.  There  was  a  radical 
defect,  however,   in  their   scheme   of    settlement. 


ie07.]  CHARACTER  OF   THE  ENTERPRISE.  275 

Excepting  a  few  of  the  leaders,  those  engaged  in 
it  had  not  chosen  a  home  in  the  wilderness  of  New 
France,  but  were  mere  hirelings,  without  wives  or 
families,  and  careless  of  the  welfare  of  the  colony. 
The  life  which  should  have  pervaded  all  the  mem- 
bers was  confined  to  the  heads  alone.  In  one  re- 
spect, however,  the  enterprise  of  De  Monts  was 
truer  in  principle  than  the  Roman  Catholic  coloni- 
zation of  Canada,  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  Puritan 
colonization  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  other,  for  it 
did  not  attempt  to  enforce  religious  exclusion. 

Towards  the  fickle  and  bloodthirsty  race  who 
claimed  the  lordship  of  the  forests,  these  colonists, 
excepting  only  in  the  treacherous  slaughter  at  Port 
Fortune,  bore  themselves  in  a  spirit  of  kindness 
contrasting  brightly  with  the  rapacious  cruelty  of 
the  Spaniards  and  the  harshness  of  the  English 
settlers.  When  the  last  boat-load  left  Port  Royal, 
the  shore  resounded  with  lamentation ;  and  noth- 
ing could  console  the  afflicted  savages  but  reiterated 
promises  of  a  speedy  return. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1610,  1611. 
THE  JESUITS  AND  THEIR  PATRONESS. 

POUTKINCOURT  AND  THE    JESUITS.  —  He  SAILS  FOB  ACADIA.  —  SuDDEN 

Conversions.  —  Biencourt.  —  Death  of  the  King.  —  Madame  de 

GuERCHEVILLE.  —  BlARD  AND  MaSSE. ThE  JeSUITS  TRIUMPHANT. 

PouTRiNCOURT,  we  have  seen,  owned  Port  Royal 
in  virtue  of  a  grant  from  De  Monts.  The  ardent 
and  adventurous  baron  was  in  evil  case,  involved 
in  litig£|;tion  and  low  in  purse ;  but  nothing  could 
damp  his  zeal.  Acadia  must  become  a  new  France, 
and  he,  Poutrincourt,  must  be  its  father.  He 
gained  from  the  King  a  confirmation  of  his  grant, 
and,  to  supply  the  lack  of  his  own  weakened  re- 
sources, associated  with  himself  one  Robin,  a  man 
of  family  and  wealth.  This  did  not  save  him 
from  a  host  of  delays  and  vexations ;  and  it  was 
not  until  the  spring  of  1610  that  he  found  himself 
in  a  condition  to  embark  on  his  new  and  doubtful 
venture. 

Meanwhile  an  influence,  of  sinister  omen  as  lie 
thought,  had  begun  to  act  upon  his  schemes.  The 
Jesuits  were  strong  at  court.  One  of  their  num- 
ber, the  famous  Father  Coton,  was  confessor  to 
Henry  the  Fourth,  and,  on  matters  of  this  world 
as  of  the  next,  was  ever  whispering  at  the  facile 
ear  of  the  renegade  King.     New  France  offered  a 


:510.]  UNWELCOME  ALLIES.  277 

fresh  field  of  action  to  the  indefatigable  Society 
of  Jesus,  and  Coton  urged  upon  the  royal  convert, 
that,  for  the  saving  of  souls,  some  of  its  members 
should  be  attached  to  the  proposed  enterprise. 
The  King,  profoundly  indifferent  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion, saw  no  evil  in  a  proposal  which  at  least 
promised  to  place  the  Atlantic  betwixt  him  and 
some  of  those  busy  friends  whom  at  heart  he 
deeply  mistrusted.^  Other  influences,  too,  seconded 
the  confessor.  Devout  ladies  of  the  court,  and  the 
Queen  herself,  supplying  the  lack  of  virtue  with 
an  overflowing,  piety,  burned,  we  are  assured,  with 
a  holy  zeal  for  snatching  the  tribes  of  the  "West 
from  the  bondage  of  Satan.  Therefore  it  was  in- 
sisted that  the  projected  colony  should  combine 
the  spiritual  with  the  temporal  character,  or,  in 
other  words,  that  Poutrincourt  should  take  Jesuits 
with  him.  Pierre  Biard,  Professor  of  Theology  at 
Lyons,  was  named  for  the  mission,  and  repaired  in 
haste  to  Bordeaux,  the  port  of  embarkation,  where 
he  found  no  vessel,  and  no  sign  of  preparation ; 
and  here,  in  wrath  and  discomfiture,  he  remained 
for  a  whole  year. 

That  Poutrincourt  was  a  good  Catholic  appears 
from  a  letter  to  the  Pope,  written  for  him  in  Latin 
by  Lescarbot,  asking  a  blessing  on  his  enterprise, 
and  assuring  his  Holiness  that  one  of  his  grand 
objects  was  the  saving  of  souls. ^  But,  like  other 
good  citizens,  he  belonged  to  the  national  party  in 

1  The  missionary  Biard  makes  the  characteristic  assertion,  that  the 
King  initiated  the  Jesuit  project,  and  that  Father  Coton  merely  oheyed 
his  orders.     Biard,  Relation,  c.  11. 

2  See  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  605. 


278  THE  JESUITS  AND  THEIR  PATRONESS.  [1610. 

the  Church,  those  liberal  Catholics,  who,  side  by 
side  with  the  Huguenots,  had  made  head  against 
the  League,  with  its  Spanish  allies,  and  placed 
Henry  the  Fourth  upon  the  throne.  The  Jesuits, 
an  order  Spanish  in  origin  and  policy,  determined 
champions  of  ultramontane  principles,  the  sword 
and  shield  of  the  Papacy  in  its  broadest  preten- 
sions to  spiritual  and  temporal  sway,  were  to  him, 
as  to  others  of  his  party,  objects  of  deep  dislike 
and  distrust.  He  feared  them  in  his  colony,  evaded 
what  he  dared  not  refuse,  left  Biard  waiting  in 
solitude  at  Bordeaux,  and  sought  tp  postpone  the 
evil  day  by  assuring  Father  Coton  that,  though 
Port  Royal  was  at  present  in  no  state  to  receive 
the  missionaries,  preparation  should  be  made  to 
entertain  them  the  next  year  after  a  befitting 
fashion. 

Poutrincourt  owned  the  barony  of  St.  Just  in 
Champagne,  inherited  a  few  years  before  from  his 
mother.  Hence,  early  in  February,  1610,  he  set 
out  in  a  boat  loaded  to  the  gunwales  Avith  j)ro- 
visions,  furniture,  goods,  and  munitions  for  Port 
Eoyal,  descended  the  rivers  Aube  and  Seine,  and 
reached  Dieppe  safely  with  his  charge.^  Here  his 
ship  was  awaiting  him ;  and  on  the  twenty-sixth 
of  February  he  set  sail,  giving  the  slip  to  the 
indignant  Jesuit  at  Bordeaux. 

The  tedium  of  a  long  passage  was  unpleasantly 
broken  by  a  mutiny  among  the  crew.  It  was 
suppressed,  however,  and  Poutrincourt  entered  at 

^  Lescarbot,  Reheion  Derniere,  6.  This  is  a  pamphlet  of  thirty-nine 
pages,  containing  matters  not  included  in  the  larger  work. 


1610.]  INDIAN  PROSELYTES.  279 

length  the  familiar  basin  of  Port  Eoyal!  The 
buildings  were  still  standing,  whole  and  sound  save 
a  partial  falling  in  of  the  roofs.  Even  furniture 
was  found  untouched  in  the  deserted  chambers. 
The  centenarian  Membertou  was  still  alive,  his 
leathern,  wrinkled  visage  beaming  with  welcome. 

Poutrincourt  set  himself  without  delay  to  the 
task  of  Christianizing  New  France,  in  an  access  of 
zeal  which  his  desire  of  proving  that  Jesuit  aid 
was  superfluous  may  be  supposed  largely  to  have 
reinforced.  He  had  a  priest  with  him,  one  La 
Fleche,  whom  he  urged  to  the  pious  work.  No 
time  was  lost.  Membertou  first  was  catechised, 
confessed  his  sins,  and  renounced  the  Devil,  whom 
we  are  told  he  had  faithfully  served  during  a 
hundred  and  ten  years.  His  squaws,  his  children, 
his  grandchildren,  and  his  entire  clan,  were  next 
won  over.  It  was  in  June,  the  day  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  when  the  naked  proselytes,  twenty- 
one  in  number,  were  gathered  on  the  shore  at 
Port  Royal.  Here  was  the  priest  in  the  vestments 
of  his  office ;  here  were  gentlemen  in  gay  attire, 
soldiers,  laborers,  lackeys,  all  the  infant  colony. 
The  converts  kneeled ;  the  sacred  rite  was  finished, 
Te  Deum  was  sung,  and  the  roar  of  cannon  pro- 
claimed this  triumph  over  the  powers  of  darkness.^ 
Membertou  was  named  Henri,  after  the  King ; 
his  principal  squaw,  Marie,  after  the  Queen.  One 
of  his  sons  received  the  name  of  the  Pope,  an- 
other that  of  the  Dauphin ;  his  daughter  was 
called  Marguerite,  after  the  divorced  Marguerite  de 

^  Lescarbot,  Relation  Derniere,  11. 


280  THE  JESUITS  AND  THEIR  PATRONESS.  [1610. 

Valoisj  and,  in  like  manner,  the  rest  of  the  squalid 
company  exchanged  their  barbaric  appellatives  for 
the  names  of  princes,  nobles,  and  ladies  of  rank.^ 

The  fame  of  this  chef-d'oeuvre  of  Christian  piety, 
as  Lescarbot  gravely  calls  it,  spread  far  and  wide 
through  the  forest,  whose  denizens,  partly  out  of  a  / 
notion  that  the  rite  would  bring  good  luck,  partly 
to  please  the  French,  and  partly  to  share  in  the 
good  cheer  with  which  the  apostolic  efforts  of 
Father  La  Fleche  had  been  sagaciously  seconded, 
came  flocking  to  enroll  themselves  under  the  ban- 
ners of  the  Faith.  Their  zeal  ran  high.  They 
would  take  no  refusal.  Membertou  was  for  war 
on  all  who  would  not  turn  Christian.  A  living 
skeleton  was  seen  crawling  from  hut  to  hut  in 
search  of  the  priest  and  his  saving  waters ;  while 
another  neophyte,  at  the  point  of  death,  asked 
anxiously  whether,  in  the  realms  of  bliss  to  which 
he  was  bound,  pies  were  to  be  had  comparable  to 
those  with  which  the  French  regaled  him. 

A  formal  register  of  baptisms  was  drawn  up  to 
be  carried  to  France  in  the  returning  ship,  of 
which  Poutrincourt's  son,  Biencourt,  a  spirited 
youth  of  eighteen,  was  to  take  charge.  He  sailed 
in  July,  his  father  keeping  him  company  as  far 
as  Port  la  Heve,  whence,  bidding  the  young  man 
farewell,  he  attempted  to  return  in  an  open  boat 
to  Port  Royal.  A  north  wind  blew  him  out  to 
sea ;  and  for  six  days  he  was  out  of  sight  of 
land,  subsisting  on  rain-water  wrung  from  the 
boat's  sail,  and  on  a  few  wild-fowl  which  he  had 

1  R^gitre  de  Bapteme  de  I'J^glise  du  Port  Royal  en  la  Nouvelle  France. 


i6lO.|  ASSASSINATION  OF   HENKY  IV.  281 

shot  on  an  island.  Five  weeks  passed  before  he 
could  rejoin  his  colonists,  who,  despairing  of  his 
safety,  were  about  to  choose  a  new  chief. 

Meanwhile  young  Biencourt,  speeding  on  his 
way,  heard  dire  news  from  a  fisherman  on  the 
Grand  Bank.  The  knife  of  Ravaillac  had  done 
its  work.     Henry  the  Fourth  was  dead. 

There  is  an  ancient  street  in  Paris,  where  a 
great  thoroughfare  contracts  to  a  narrow  pass, 
the  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie.  Tall  building's  over- 
shadow  it,  packed  from  pavement  to  tiles  with 
human  life,  and  from  the  dingy  front  of  one  of 
them  the  sculptured  head  of  a  man  looks  down  on 
the  throng  that  ceaselessly  defiles  beneath.  On 
the  fourteenth  of  May,  1610,  a  ponderous  coach, 
studded  with  fleurs-de-lis  and  rich  with  gilding, 
rolled  along  this  street.  In  it  was  a  small  man, 
well  advanced  in  life,  whose  profile  once  seen 
could  not  be  forgotten :  a  hooked  nose,  a  protrud- 
ing chin,  a  brow  full  of  wrinkles,  grizzled  hair,  a 
short,  grizzled  beard,  and  stiff,  gray  moustaches, 
bristling  like  a  cat's.  One  would  have  thought 
him  some  whiskered  satyr,  grim  from  the  rack  of 
tumultuous  years;  but  his  alert,  upright  port  be- 
spoke unshaken  vigor,  and  his  clear  eye  was  full 
of  buoyant  life.  Following  on  the  footway  strode 
a  tall,  strong,  and  somewhat  corpulent  man,  with 
sinister,  deep-set  eyes  and  a  red  beard,  his  arm 
and  shoulder  covered  with  his  cloak.  In  the 
throat  of  the  thoroughfare,  where  the  sculptured 
image  of  Henry  the  Fourth  still  guards  the  spot,  a 
collision  of  two  carts  stopped  the  coach.    Ravaillac 


282  THE   JESUITS  AND  THEIR  PATRONESS.  f!610. 

quickened  his  pace.  In  an  instant  he  was  at  the 
door.  With  his  cloak  dropped  from  bis  shoulders, 
and  a  long  knife  in  his  hand,  he  set  his  foot  upon 
a  guardstone,  thrust  his  head  and  shoulders  into 
the  coach,  and  with  frantic  force  stabbed  thrice 
at  the  King's  heart.  A  broken  exclamation,  a 
gasping  convulsion ;  and  then  the  grim  visage 
drooped  on  the  bleeding  breast.  Henry  breathed 
his  last,  and  the  hope  of  Europe  died  with  him. 

The  omens  were  sinister  for  Old  France  and  for 
New.  Marie  de  Medicis,  "  cette  grosse  banquiere," 
coarse  scion  of  a  bad  stock,  false  wife  and  faithless 
queen,  paramour  of  an  intriguing  foreigner,  tool 
of  the  Jesuits  and  of  Spain,  was  Regent  in  the 
minority  of  her  imbecile  son.  The  Huguenots 
drooped,  the  national  party  collapsed,  the  vigor- 
ous hand  of  Sully  was  felt  no  more,  and  the 
treasure  gathered  for  a  vast  and  beneficent  enter- 
prise became  the  instrument  of  despotism  and  the 
prey  of  corruption.  Under  such  dark  auspices, 
young  Biencourt  entered  the  thronged  chambers 
of  the  Louvre. 

He  gained  audience  of  the  Queen,  and  displayed 
his  list  of  baptisms  ;  while  the  ever  present  Jes- 
uits failed  not  to  seize  him  by  the  button,^  assur- 
ing him,  not  only  that  the  late  King  had  deeply 
at  heart  the  establishment  of  their  Society  in  Aca- 
dia, but  that  to  this  end  he  had  made  them  a 
grant  of  two  thousand  livres  a  year.  The  Jesuits 
had   found  an   ally  and   the  intended   mission  a 

1  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  662;  ".  .  .  .  ne  manquerent  de  Tempoiguer  par 
les  cheveux." 


1610.]  MADAME  DE   GUERCHEVILLE.  283 

friend  at  court,  whose  story  and  whose  character 
are  too  striking  to  pass  unnoticed. 

This  was  a  lady  of  honor  to  the  Queen,  An- 
toinette de  Pons,  Marquise  de  Guercheville,  once 
renowned  for  grace  and  beauty,  and  not  less  con- 
spicuous for  qualities  rare  in  the  unbridled  court 
of  Henry's  predecessor,  where  her  youth  had  been 
passed.  When  the  civil  war  was  at  its  height,  the 
royal  heart,  leaping  with  insatiable  restlessness 
from  battle  to  battle,  from  mistress  to  mistress, 
had  found  a  brief  repose  in  the  affections  of  his 
Corisande,  famed  in  tradition  and  romance ;  but 
Corisande  was  suddenly  abandoned,  and  the  young 
widow,  Madame  de  Guercheville,  became  the  load- 
star of  his  erratic  fancy.  It  was  an  evil  hour  for 
the  B^arnais.  Henry  sheathed  in  rusty  steel,  bat- 
tling for  his  crown  and  his  life,  and  Henry  robed 
in  royalty  and  throned  triumphant  in  the  Louvre, 
alike  urged  their  suit  in  vain.  Unused  to  defeat, 
the  King's  passion  rose  higher  for  the  obstacle  that 
barred  it.  On  one  occasion  he  was  met  with  an 
answer  not  unworthy  of  record  :  — 

"  Sire,  my  rank,  perhaps,  is  not  high  enough  to 
permit  me  to  be  your  wife,  but  my  heart  is  too 
high  to  permit  me  to  be  your  mistress."  ^ 

She  left  the  court  and  retired  to  her  chateau  of 
La  Roche-Guyon,  on  the  Seine,  ten  leagues  below 
Paris,  where,  fond  of  magnificence,  she  is  said  to 
have  lived  in  much  expense  and  splendor.     The 

^  A  similar  repl)'  is  attributed  to  Catherine  de  Rohan,  Duchesse  de 
Deux-Ponts  :  "  Je  suis  trop  panvre  pour  etre  votre  femme,  et  de  trop  bonne 
niaison  pour  etre  votre  maitresse."  Her  suitor  also  was  Henry  the  Fourth. 
Dictionnaire  de  Bayle,  III.  2182. 


284  THE  JESUITS  AND  THEIR  PATRONESS.  [1610. 

indefatigable  King,  haunted  by  her  memory,  made 
a  hunting-party  in  the  neighboring  forests ;  and, 
as  evening  drew  near,  separating  himself  from  his 
courtiers,  he  sent  a  gentleman  of  his  train  to  ask 
of  Madame  de  Guercheville  the  shelter  of  her  roof. 
The  reply  conveyed  a  dutiful  acknowledgment  of 
the  honor,  and  an  offer  of  the  best  entertainment 
within  her  power.  It  was  night  when  Henry,  with 
his  little  band  of  horsemen,  approached  the  chateau, 
where  lights  were  burning  in  every  window,  after 
a  fashion  of  the  day  on  occasions  of  welcome  to  an 
honored  guest.  Pages  stood  in  the  gateway,  each 
with  a  blazing  torch ;  and  here,  too,  were  gentle- 
men of  the  neighborhood,  gathered  to  greet  their 
sovereign.  Madame  de  Guercheville  came  forth, 
followed  by  the  women  of  her  household;  and 
when  the  King,  unprepared  for  so  benign  a  wel- 
come, giddy  with  love  and  hope,  saw  her  radiant  in 
pearls  and  more  radiant  yet  in  a  beauty  enhanced 
by  the  wavy  torchlight  and  the  surrounding  shad- 
ows, he  scarcely  dared  trust  his  senses  :  — 

"  Que  vois-je,  madame  ;  est-ce  bien  vous,  et  suis- 
je  ce  roi  meprise  ?  " 

He  gave  her  his  hand,  and  she  led  him  within 
the  chateau,  where,  at  the  door  of  the  apartment 
destined  for  him,  she  left  him,  with  a  graceful 
reverence.  The  King,  nowise  disconcerted,  did  not 
doubt  that  she  had  gone  to  give  orders  for  his  en- 
tertainment, when  an  attendant  came  to  tell  him 
that  she  had  descended  to  the  courtyard  and  called 
for  her  coach.     Thither  he  hastened  in  alarm  :  — 

"  What !  am  I  driving  you  from  your  house  ?" 


1610.]  MADAME  DE   GUEHCHEVILLE.  285 

"  Sire,"  replied  Madame  de  Guercheville,  "  where 
a  king  is,  he  should  be  the  sole  master ;  but,  for 
my  part,  I  like  to  preserve  some  little  authority 
wherever  I  may  be." 

With  another  deep  reverence,  she  entered  her 
coach  and  disappeared,  seeking  shelter  under  the 
roof  of  a  friend,  some  two  leagues  off,  and  leaving 
the  baffled  King  to  such  consolation  as  he  might 
find  in  a  magnificent  repast,  bereft  of  the  presence 
of  the  hostess.^ 

1  M€moires  de  I' Abbe  de  Choisy,  Liv.  XII.  The  elaborate  notices  of  Ma- 
dame de  Guercheville  in  the  Biographie  Ge'nerale  and  the  Biographie  Uni- 
verselle  are  from  this  source.  She  figures  under  the  name  of  Scilinde  in 
Les  Amours  da  Grand  Alcandre  (Henry  IV.).  See  Collection  Petitot,  LXIII. 
515,  note,  where  the  passage  is  extracted. 

The  Abbe  de  Choisy  says  that  when  the  King  was  enamored  of  her  she 
was  married  to  M.  de  Liancourt.  This,  it  seems,  is  a  mistake,  this  second 
marriage  not  taking  place  till  1594.  Madame  de  Guercheville  refused 
to  take  the  name  of  Liancourt,  because  it  had  once  been  borne  by  the 
Duchesse  de  Beaufort,  who  had  done  it  no  honor,  —  a  scruple  very  reason- 
ably characterized  by  her  biographer  as  "trop  affecte." 

The  following  is  De  Choisy's  account :  — 

"  Enfin  ce  prince  s'avisa  un  jour,  pour  derniere  ressource,  de  faire  une 
partie  de  chasse  du  cote  de  La  Roche-Guyon ;  et,  sur  la  fin  de  la  jourue'e, 
s'etant  separe  de  la  plupart  de  ses  courtisans,  il  envoya  un  gentilhorame  a 
La  Roche-Guyon  demander  le  convert  pour  une  uuit.  Madame  de  Guerche- 
ville, sans  s'embarrasser,  repondit  au  gentilhomme,  que  le  Roi  lui  feroit 
beaucoup  d'honneur,  et  qu'elle  le  recevroit  de  son  mieux.  En  effet,  elle 
donna  ordre  a  un  magnifique  souper;  on  eclaira  toutes  les  fenetres  du 
chateau  avee  des  torches  (c'etoit  la  mode  en  ce  temps-la)  ;  elle  se  para  de 
ses  plus  beaux  habits,  se  couvrit  de  perles  (c'e'toit  aussi  la  mode) ;  et  lorsque 
le  Roi  arriva  a  I'entre'e  de  la  nuit,  elle  alia  le  recevoir  a  la  porte  de  sa 
maison,  accompagnee  de  toutes  ses  femmes,  et  de  quelques  gentilshommes 
du  voisinage.  Des  pages  portoient  les  torches  devant  elle.  Le  Roi,  trans- 
porte  de  joie,  la  trouva  plus  belle  que  jamais :  les  ombres  de  la  nuit,  la 
lumiere  des  flambeaux,  les  diamans,  la  surprise  d'uu  accueil  si  favorable  et 
si  peu  accoutume',  tout  contrlbuait  a  renouveler  ses  auciennes  blessures. 
*  Que  vois-je,  madame  1 '  lui  dit  ce  monarque  tremblant ;  'est-ce  bien  vous, 
et  suis-je  ce  roi  me'prise  ? '  Madame  de  Guercheville  I'interrompit,  en  le 
priant  de  monter  dans  son  appartement  pour  se  reposer.  II  lui  donna  la 
main.  Elle  le  conduisit  jusqu'a  la  porte  de  sa  chambre,  lui  fit  une  grande 
re've'rence,  et  se  retira.    Le  Roi  ne  s'en  etonna  pas ;  il  crut  qu'elle  vouloit 


286  THE  JESUITS  AND   THEIR  PATRONESS.  [1610. 

Henry  could  admire  the  virtue  which  he  could 
not  vanquish ;  and,  long  after,  on  his  marriage,  he 
acknowledged  his  sense  of  her  worth  by  begging 
her  to  accept  an  honorable  post  near  the  person  of 
the  Queen. 

"  Madame,"  he  said,  presenting  her  to  Marie 
de  Medicis,  "  I  give  you  a  lady  of  honor  w^ho  is  a 
lady  of  honor  indeed." 

Some  twenty  years  had  passed  since  the  adven- 
ture of  La  Roche-Guyon.  Madame  de  Guercheville 
had  outlived  the  charms  which  had  attracted  her 
royal  suitor,  but  the  virtue  which  repelled  him 
was  reinforced  by  a  devotion  no  less  uncompromis- 
ing. A  rosary  in  her  hand  and  a  Jesuit  at  her 
side,  she  realized  the  utmost  wishes  of  the  subtle 
fathers  who  had  moulded  and  who  guided  her. 
She  readily  took  fire  when  they  told  her  of  the 
benighted  souls  of  New  France,  and  the  wrongs 
of  Father  Biard  kindled  her  utmost  indignation. 
She  declared  herself  the  protectress  of  the  Ameri- 
can missions ;  and  the  only  difficulty,  as  a  Jesuit 
writer  tells  us,  was  to  restrain  her  zeal  within 
reasonable  bounds.^ 

She  had  two  illustrious  coadjutors.  The  first 
was  the  jealous  Queen,  wliose  unbridled  rage  and 

aller  donuer  ordre  a  la  fete  qu'elle  lui  preparoit.  Mais  il  fut  bien  surpris 
quaiid  on  lui  vint  dire  qu'elle  etoit  descendue  dans  sa  cour,  et  qu'elle  avoit 
crie'  tout  liaut :  Qn'oii  nttelle  mon  coche !  comme  pour  aller  coucher  hors  de 
chez  elle.  II  descendit  aussitot,  et  tout  cperdu  lui  dit :  'Quoi!  madame, 
je  vous  chasserai  de  votre  maison  ? '  '  Sire,'  lui  repondit-elle  d'un  ton 
ferme,  'un  roi  doit  etre  le  maitre  partout  oil  il  est;  et  pour  moi,  je  suis 
bien  aise  d'avoir  quelque  pouvoir  dans  les  lieux  ou  je  me  trouve.'  Et, 
sans  vouloir  I'ecouter  davantage,  elle  montadans  son  coche,  et  alia  coucher 
k  deux  lieues  de  la  chez  uue  de  ses  amies." 
1  Charlevoix,  I.  122. 


1610.]  BIARD   AND   MASSE.  287 

vulgar  clamor  had  made  the  Louvre  a  hell.  The 
second  was  Henriette  d'Entragues,  Marquise  de 
Verneuil,  the  crafty  and  capricious  siren  who  had 
awakened  these  conjugal  tempests.  To  this  singu- 
lar coalition  were  joined  many  other  ladies  of  the 
court ;  for  the  pious  flame,  fanned  by  the  Jesuits, 
spread  through  hall  and  boudoir,  and  fair  votaries 
of  the  Loves  and  Graces  found  it  a  more  grateful 
task  to  win  heaven  for  the  heathen  than  to  merit 
it  for  themselves. 

Young  Biencourt  saw  it  vain  to  resist.  Biard 
must  go  with  him  in  the  returning  ship,  and  also 
another  Jesuit,  Enemond  Masse.  The  two  fathers 
repaired  to  Dieppe,  wafted  on  the  wind  of  court 
favor,  which  they  never  doubted  would  bear  them 
to  their  journey's  end.  Not  so,  however.  Poutrin- 
court  and  his  associates,  in  the  dearth  of  their 
own  resources,  had  bargained  with  two  Huguenot 
merchants  of  Dieppe,  Du  Jardin  and  Du  Quesne, 
to  equip  and  load  the  vessel,  in  consideration  of 
their  becoming  partners  in  the  expected  profits. 
Their  indignation  was  extreme  when  they  saw  the 
intended  passengers.  They  declared,  that  they 
would  not  aid  in  building  up  a  colony  for  the 
profit  of  the  king  of  Spain,  nor  risk  their  money 
in  a  venture  where  Jesuits  were  allowed  to  inter- 
meddle ;  and  they  closed  with  a  flat  refusal  to 
receive  them  on  board,  unless,  they  added  with 
patriotic  sarcasm,  the  Queen  would  direct  them  to 
transport  the  whole  order  beyond  sea.^  Biard  and 
Masse  insisted,  on  which  the  merchants  demanded 

1  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  664 


288  THE  JESUITS   AND  THEIR  PATRONESS.  [1611. 

reimbursement   for   their   outlay,   as   they   would 
have  no  further  concern  in  the  business. 

Biard  communicated  with  Father  Coton,  Father 
Coton  with  Madame  de  Guercheville.  No  more 
was  needed.  The  zealous  lady  of  honor,  "  indig- 
nant," says  Biard,  "  to  see  the  efforts  of  hell  pre- 
vail," and  resolved  "  that  Satan  should  not  remain 
master  of  the  field,"  set  on  foot  a  subscription, 
and  raised  an  ample  fund  within  the  precincts  of 
the  court.  Biard,  in  the  name  of  the  "  Province 
of  France  of  the  Order  of  Jesus,"  bought  out  the 
interest  of  the  two  merchants  for  thirty-eight  hun- 
dred livres,  thus  constituting  the  Jesuits  equal 
partners  in  business  with  their  enemies.  Nor  was 
this  all ;  for,  out  of  the  ample  proceeds  of  the  sub- 
scription, he  lent  to  the  needy  associates  a  further 
sum  of  seven  hundred  and  thirty-seven  livres,  and 
advanced  twelve  hundred  and  twenty-five  more  to 
complete  the  outfit  of  the  ship.  Well  pleased,  the 
triumphant  priests  now  embarked,  and  friend  and  ' 
foe  set  sail  together  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Jan- 
uary, 1611.^ 

1  Contract  d' Association  des  Jesuites  au  Trafique  dii  Canada,  20  Jan., 
1611;  a  certified  copy  of  the  original  parchment.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
the  first  contract  of  the  French  Jesuits  in  America  relates  to  a  partnership 
to  carry  on  the  fur-trade.  Compare  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  665;  Biard,  Rela- 
tion, c.  12;  Champlain,  (1632,)  100;  Charlevoix,  I.  123;  De  Laet,  Lib.  II. 
c.  21 ;  Lettre  du  P.  Pierre  Biard  au  T.  R.  P.  Claude  Aquaviva,  Gene'ral 
de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus  a  Rome,  Dieppe,  21  Jan.,  1611;  Lettre  du  P. 
Biard  au  R.  P.  Ckristophe  Balthazar,  Provincial  de  France  a  Paris,  Port 
Royal,  10  Juin,  1611  ;  Lettre  du  P.  Biard  au  T.  R.  P.  Claude  Aquaviva, 
Port  Roijal,  31  Jan.,  1612.  These  letters  form  part  of  an  interesting  col- 
lection recently  published  by  R.  P.  Auguste  Carayon,  S.  J.,  under  the 
title,  Premiere  AL'ssion  des  Jesuites  au  Canada  (Paris,  1864).  They  are 
taken  from  the  Jesuit  archives  at  Rome. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1611,  1612. 

JESUITS  IN  ACADIA. 

The  Jesctits  arrive. —  Collision  of  Powers  Temporal  and  Spirit- 
ual. —  Excursion  of  Biencourt.  —  Biard's  Indian  Studies.  — 
Misery  at  Port  Royal.  —  Grant  to  Madame  de  Guercheville. 
—  Gilbert  du  Thet.  —  Quarrels.  —  Anathemas.  —  TRbCE. 

The  voyage  was  one  of  inordinate  length,  — 
beset,  too,  witli  icebergs,  larger  and  taller,  accord- 
ing to  the  Jesuit  voyagers,  than  the  Church  of 
Notre  Dame ;  but  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  their 
ship,  "  The  Grace  of  God,"  anchored  before  Port 
Royal.  Then  first  were  seen  in  the  wilderness  of 
New  France  the  close  black  cap,  the  close  black 
robe,  of  the  Jesuit  father,  and  the  features  seamed 
with  study  and  thought  and  discipline.  Then 
first  did  this  mighty  Proteus,  this  many-colored 
Society  of  Jesus,  enter  upon  that  rude  field  of  toil 
and  woe,  where,  in  after  years,  the  devoted  zeal  of 
its  apostles  was  to  lend  dignity  to  their  order  and 
do  honor  to  humanity. 

Few  were  the  regions  of  the  known  world  to 
which  the  potent  brotherhood  had  not  stretched 
the  vast  network  of  its  influence.  Jesuits  had 
disputed  in  theology  with  the  bonzes  of  Japan, 
and  taught  astronomy  to  the  mandarins  of  China  ; 
had  wrought  prodigies  of  sudden  conversion  among 

10 


290  JESUITS  IN  ACADIA.  [1611. 

the  followers  of  Brahma,  preached  the  papal  su- 
premacy to  Abyssinian  schismatics,  carried  the 
cross  among  the  savages  of  Caffraria,  wrought 
reputed  miracles  in  Brazil,  and  gathered  the  tribes 
of  Paraguay  beneath  their  paternal  sway.  And 
now,  with  the  aid  of  the  Virgin  and  her  votary  at 
court,  they  would  build  another  empire  among  the 
tribes  of  New  France.  The  omens  were  sinister 
and  the  outset  was  unpropitious.  The  Society  was 
destined  to  reap  few  laurels  from  the  brief  apostle- 
ship  of  Biard  and  Masse. 

When  the  voyagers  landed,  they  found  at  Port 
Royal  a  band  of  half-famished  men,  eagerly  ex- 
pecting their  succor.  The  voyage  of  four  months 
had,  however,  nearly  exhausted  their  own  very 
moderate  stock  of  provisions,  and  the  mutual  con- 
gratulations of  the  old  colonists  and  the  new  were 
damped  by  a  vision  of  starvation.  A  friction, 
too,  speedily  declared  itself  between  the  spiritual 
and  the  temporal  powers.  Pontgrave's  son,  then 
trading  on  the  coast,  had  exasperated  the  Indians 
by  an  outrage  on  one  of  their  women,  and,  dread- 
ing the  wrath  of  Poutrincourt,  had  fled  to  the 
woods.  Biard  saw  fit  to  take  his  part,  remon- 
strated for  him  with  vehemence,  gained  his  par- 
don, received  his  confession,  and  absolved  him. 
The  Jesuit  says,  that  he  was  treated  with  great 
consideration  by  Poutrincourt,  and  that  he  should 
be  forever  beholden  to  him.  The  latter,  however, 
chafed  at  Biard's  interference. 

"  Father,"  he  said,  "  I  know  my  duty,  and  I  beg 
you  will  leave  me  to  do  it.     I,  with  my  sword, 


1611.]  EXCmiSION  OF  BIENCOUET.  291 

have  hopes  of  paradise,  as  well  as  you  with  your 
breviary.  Show  me  my  path  to  heaven.  I  will 
show  you  yours  on  earth."  ^ 

He  soon  set  sail  for  France,  leaving  his  son  Bien- 
court  in  charge.  This  hardy  young  sailor,  of 
ability  and  character  beyond  his  years,  had,  on  his 
visit  to  court,  received  the  post  of  Vice-Admiral  in 
the  seas  of  New  France,  and  in  this  capacity  had 
a  certain  authority  over  the  trading-vessels  of  St. 
Malo  and  Rochelle,  several  of  which  were  upon 
the  coast.  To  compel  the  recognition  of  this  au- 
thority, and  also  to  purchase  provisions,  he  set  out 
along  with  Biard  in  a  boat  filled  with  armed  fol- 
lowers. His  first  collision  was  with  young  Pont- 
grav6,  who  with  a  few  men  had  built  a  trading-hut 
on  the  St.  John,  where  he  proposed  to  winter. 
Meeting  with  resistance,  Biencourt  took  the  whole 
party  prisoners,  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of 
Biard.  Next,  proceeding  along  the  coast,  he 
levied  tribute  on  four  or  five  traders  wintering  at 
St.  Croix,  and,  continuing  his  course  to  the  Kenne- 
bec, found  the  Indians  of  that  region  greatly  en- 
raged at  the  conduct  of  certain  English  adventurers, 
who,  three  or  four  years  before,  had,  as  they  said, 
set  dogs  upon  them  and  otherwise  maltreated 
them.  These  were  the  colonists  under  Popham 
and  Gilbert,  who  in  1607  and  1608  made  an  abor- 
tive attempt  to  settle  near  the  mouth  of  the  river. 
Nothing  now  was  left  of  them  but  their  deserted 
fort.      The  neighboring   Indians  were   Abenakis, 

1  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  669.     Compare  Biard,  Relation,  c.  14  ;  and  Biard, 
Lettre  au  R.  P.  Christophe  Balthazar,  in  Carayon,  9. 


292  JESUITS  IN  ACADIA.  I16II. 

one  of  the  tribes  included  by  the  French  under  the 
general  name  of  Armouchiquois.  Their  disposi- 
tion was  douTjtfnl,  and  it  needed  all  the  coolness 
of  young  Biencourt  to  avoid  a  fatal  collision.  On 
one  occasion  a  curious  incident  took  place.  The 
French  met  six  canoes  full  of  warriors  descending 
the  Kennebec,  and,  as  neither  party  trusted  the 
other,  the  two  encamped  on  opposite  banks  of  the 
river.  In  the  evening  the  Indians  began  to  sing 
and  dance.  Biard  suspected  these  proceedings  to 
be  an  invocation  of  the  Devil,  and  "  in  order,"  he 
says,  "  to  thwart  this  accursed  tyrant,  I  made  our 
people  sing  a  few  church  hymns,  such  as  the  Salve, 
the  Ave  Maris  Stella,  and  others.  But  being  once 
in  train,  and  getting  to  the  end  of  their  spiritual 
songs,  they  fell  to  singing  such  others  as  they 
knew,  and  when  these  gave  out  they  took  to  mim- 
icking the  dancing  and  singing  of  the  Armouchi- 
quois on  the  other  side  of  the  water;  and  as 
Frenchmen  are  naturally  good  mimics,  they  did  it 
so  well  that  the  Armouchiquois  stopped  to  listen ; 
at  which  our  people  stopped  too ;  and  then  the 
Indians  began  again.  You  would  have  laughed  to 
hear  them,  for  they  were  like  two  choirs  answering 
each  other  in  concert,  and  you  would  hardly  have 
known  the  real  Armouchiquois  from  the  sham 
ones." 

Before  the  capture  of  young  Pontgrave,  Biard 
made  him  a  visit  at  his  camp,  six  leagues  up  the 
St.  John.  Pontgrave's  men  were  sailors  from  St. 
Malo,  between  whom  and  the  other  Frenchmen 
there  was  much  ill  blood.     Biard  had  hardly  en- 


i6ii.|  me:mbertou.  293 

tered  the  river  when  he  saw  the  evening  sky 
crimsoned  with  the  dancing  fires  of  a  superb 
aurora  borealis,  and  he  and  his  attendants  mar- 
velled what  evil  thing  the  prodigy  might  portend. 
Their  Indian  companions  said  that  it  was  a  sign 
of  war.  In  fact,  the  night  after  they  had  joined 
Pontgrav6  a  furious  quarrel  broke  out  in  the  camp, 
with  abundant  shouting,  gesticulating,  and  swear- 
ing ;  and,  says  the  father,  "  I  do  not  doubt  that 
an  accursed  band  of  furious  and  sanguinary  spirits 
were  hovering  about  us  all  night,  expecting  every 
moment  to  see  a  horrible  massacre  of  the  few 
Christians  in  those  parts ;  but  the  goodness  of  God 
bridled  their  malice.  No  blood  was  shed,  and  on 
the  next  day  the  squall  ended  in  a  fine  calm." 

He  did  not  like  the  Indians,  whom  he  describes 
as  ''  lazy,  gluttonous,  irreligious,  treacherous,  cruel, 
and  licentious."  He  makes  an  exception  in  favor 
of  Membertou,  whom  he  calls  ''  the  greatest,  most 
renowned,  and  most  redoubted  savage  that  ever 
lived  in  the  memory  of  man,"  and  especially  com- 
mends him  for  contenting  himself  with  but  one  wife, 
hardly  a  superlative  merit  in  a  centenarian.  Biard 
taught  him  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer,  though  at 
the  petition,  "Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread," 
the  chief  remonstrated,  saying,  "  If  I  ask  for  noth- 
ing but  bread,  I  shall  get  no  fish  or  moose-meat." 
His  protracted  career  was  now  drawing  to  a  close, 
and,  being  brought  to  the  settlement  in  a  dying 
state,  he  was  placed  in  Biard' s  bed  and  attended  by 
the  two  Jesuits.  He  was  as  remarkable  in  person 
as  in  character,  for  he  was  bearded  like  a  French- 


294  JESUITS  IN  ACADIA.  [1611. 

man.  Though,  alone  among  La  Fleche's  converts, 
the  Faith  seemed  to  have  left  some  impression 
upon  him,  he  insisted  on  being  buried  with  his 
heathen  forefathers,  but  was  persuaded  to  forego 
a  wish  fatal  to  his  salvation,  and  slept  at  last  in 
consecrated  ground. 

Another  of  the  scanty  fruits  of  the  mission  was 
a  little  girl  on  the  point  of  death,  whom  Biard  had 
asked  her  parents  to  give  him  for  baptism.  "  Take 
her  and  keep  her,  if  you  like,"  was  the  reply,  "  for 
she  is  no  better  than  a  dead  dog."  "  We  accepted 
the  offer,"  says  Biard,  "  in  order  to  show  them  the 
difference  between  Christianity  and  their  impi- 
ety ;  and  after  giving  her  what  care  we  could,  to- 
gether with  some  instruction,  we  baptized  her. 
We  named  her  after  Madame  the  Marquise  de 
Guercheville,  in  gratitude  for  the  benefits  we 
have  received  from  that  lady,  who  can  now  re- 
joice that  her  name  is  already  in  heaven ;  for,  a 
few  days  after  baptism,  the  chosen  soul  flew  to 
that  place  of  glory." 

Biard' s  greatest  difficulty  was  with  the  Micmac 
language.  Young  Biencourt  was  his  best  inter- 
preter, and  on  common  occasions  served  him  well ; 
but  the  moment  that  religion  was  in  question  he 
was,  as  it  were,  stricken  dumb,  the  reason  being 
that  the  language  was  totally  without  abstract 
terms.  Biard  resolutely  set  himself  to  the  study  of 
it,  a  hard  and  thorny  path,  on  which  he  made  small 
progress,  and  often  went  astray.  Seated,  pencil 
in  hand,  before  some  Indian  squatting  on  the  floor, 
whom  with  the  bribe  of  a  mouldy  biscuit  he  had 


1611.]  DISCORD.  —  DESPONDENCY.  295 

lured  into  the  hut,  he  plied  him  with  questions 
which  he  often  neither  would  nor  could  answer. 
What  was  the  Indian  word  for  Faith,  Hope, 
Charity,  Sacrament,  Baptism,  Eucharist,  Tri7iity, 
Incarnation^  The  perplexed  savage,  willing  to 
amuse  himself,  and  impelled,  as  Biard  thinks,  by 
the  Devil,  gave  him  scurrilous  and  unseemly 
phrases  as  the  equivalent  of  things  holy,  which, 
studiously  incorporated  into  the  father's  Indian 
catechism,  produced  on  his  pupils  an  effect  the  re- 
verse of  that  intended.  Biard's  colleague,  Masse, 
was  equally  zealous,  and  still  less  fortunate.  He 
tried  a  forest  life  among  the  Indians  with  signal 
ill  success.  Hard  fare,  smoke,  filth,  the  scolding 
of  squaws,  and  the  cries  of  children,  reduced  him 
to  a  forlorn  condition  of  body  and  mind,  wore  him 
to  a  skeleton,  and  sent  him  back  to  Port  Royal 
without  a  single  convert. 

The  dark  months  wore  slowly  on.  A  band  of 
half-famished  men  gathered  about  the  huge  fires 
of  their  barn-like  hall,  moody,  sullen,  and  quarrel- 
some. Discord  was  here  in  the  black  robe  of  the 
Jesuit  and  the  brown  capote  of  the  rival  trader. 
The  position  of  the  wretched  little  colony  may  well 
provoke  reflection.  Here  lay  the  shaggy  continent, 
from  Florida  to  the  Pole,  outstretched  in  savage 
slumber  along  the  sea,  the  stern  domain  of  Nature, 
or,  to  adopt  the  ready  solution  of  the  Jesuits,  a 
realm  of  the  powers  of  night,  blasted  beneath  the 
sceptre  of  hell.  On  the  banks  of  James  River 
was  a  nest  of  woe-begone  Englishmen,  a  handful 
of  Dutch  fur-traders  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hud- 


296  JESUITS  IN  ACADIA.  [1612. 

son,^  and  a  few  shivering  Frenchmen  among  the 
snow-drifts  of  Acadia ;  while  deep  within  the  wild 
monotony  of  desolation,  on  the  icy  verge  of  the  great 
northern  river,  the  hand  of  ChamjDlain  upheld  the 
fleur-de-lis  on  the  rock  of  Quebec.  These  were  the 
advance  guard,  the  forlorn  hope  of  civilization, 
messengers  of  premise  to  a  desert  continent.  Yet, 
unconscious  of  their  high  function,  not  content 
with  inevitable  woes,  they  were  rent  by  petty 
jealousies  and  miserable  feuds,  while  each  of  these 
detached  fragments  of  rival  nationalities,  scarcely 
able  to  maintain  its  own  wretched  existence  on  a 
few  square  miles,  begrudged  to  the  others  the 
smallest  share  in  a  domain  which  all  the  nations 
of  Europe  could  hardly  have  sufficed  to  fill. 

One  evening,  as  the  forlorn  tenants  of  Port  Royal 
sat  together  disconsolate,  Biard  was  seized  with  a 
spirit  of  prophecy.  He  called  upon  Biencourt  to 
serve  out  the  little  of  wine  that  remained,  —  a  pro- 
posal which  met  with  high  favor  from  the  com- 
pany present,  though  apparently  with  none  from 
the  youthful  Vice-Admiral.  The  wine  was  ordered, 
however,  and,  as  an  unwonted  cheer  ran  around  the 
circle,  the  Jesuit  announced  that  an  inward  voice 
told  him  how,  within  a  month,  they  should  see  a 
ship  from  France.  In  truth,  they  saw  one  within 
a  week.  On  the  twenty-third  of  January,  1612, 
arrived  a  small  vessel  laden  with  a  moderate  store 
of  provisions  and  abundant  seeds  of  future  strife. 

1  It  is  not  certain  that  the  Dutch  had  any  permanent  trading-post  here 
before  1613,  when  they  had  four  houses  at  Manhattan.  O'Callaghan,  ZTiifc 
New  Netherland,  I.  69. 


1612.]        GRANT  TO   MADAME  DE  GUERCHEVILLE.        297 

This  was  the  expected  succor  sent  by  Poutrin- 
oourt.  A  series  of  ruinous  voyages  had  exhausted 
his  resources ;  but  he  had  staked  all  on  the  success 
of  the  colony,  had  even  brought  his  family  to  Aca- 
dia, and  he  would  not  leave  them  and  his  com- 
panions to  perish.^  His  credit  was  gone  ;  his  hopes 
were  dashed ;  yet  assistance  was  proffered,  and,  in 
his  extremity,  he  was  forced  to  accept  it.  It  came 
from  Madame  de  Guercheville  and  her  Jesuit  ad- 
visers. She  offered  to  buy  the  interest  of  a  thou- 
sand crowns  in  the  enterprise.  The  ill-omened 
succor  could  not  be  refused ;  but  this  was  not  all. 
The  zealous  protectress  of  the  missions  obtained 
from  De  Monts,  whose  fortunes,  like  those  of  Pou- 
trincourt,  had  ebbed  low,  a  transfer  of  all  his 
claims  to  the  lands  of  Acadia ;  while  the  young 
King,  Louis  the  Thirteenth,  was  persuaded  to  give 
her,  in  addition,  a  new  grant  of  all  the  territory  of 
North  America,  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Florida. 
Thus  did  Madame  de  Guercheville,  or  in  other 
words,  the  Jesuits  who  used  her  name  as  a  cover, 
become  proprietors  of  the  greater  part  of  the  future 
United  States  and  British  Provinces.  The  English 
colony  of  Virginia  and  the  Dutch  trading-houses  of 
New  York  were  included  within  the  limits  of  this 
destined  Northern  Paraguay,  while  Port  Royal,  the 
seigniory  of  the  unfortunate  Poutrin court,  was  en- 
compassed, like  a  petty  island,  by  the  vast  domain 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  They  could  not  deprive 
him  of  it,  since  his  title  had  been  confirmed  by  the 

^  Biard,  Epistola  ex  Portu-regali  in  Acadia,  1612.  Biard  says  that  there 
was  no  other  family  in  the  colony. 


298  JESUITS  IN  ACADIA.  [1612. 

late  King,  but  they  flattered  themselves,  to  borrow 
their  own  language,  that  he  would  be  "confined 
as  in  a  prison."  ^  His  grant,  however,  had  been 
vaguely  worded,  and,  while  they  held  him  re- 
stricted to  an  insignificant  patch  of  ground,  he 
claimed  lordship  over  a  wide  and  indefinite  terri- 
tory. Here  was  argument  for  endless  strife.  Other 
interests,  too,  were  adverse.  Poutrincourt,  in  his 
discouragement,  had  abandoned  his  plan  of  lib- 
eral colonization,  and  now  thought  of  nothing  but 
beaver-skins.  He  wished  to  make  a  trading-post ; 
the  Jesuits  wished  to  make  a  mission. 

When  the  vessel  anchored  before  Port  Royal, 
Biencourt,  with  disgust  and  anger,  saw  another 
Jesuit  landed  at  the  pier.  This  was  Gilbert  du 
Thet,  a  lay  brother,  versed  in  affairs  of  this  world, 
who  had  come  out  as  representative  and  adminis- 
trator of  Madame  de  Guercheville.  Poutrincourt, 
also,  had  his  agent  on  board ;  and,  without  the 
loss  of  a  day,  the  two  began  to  quarrel.  A 
truce  ensued ;  then  a  smothered  feud,  pervading 
the  whole  colony,  and  ending  in  a  notable  explo- 
sion. The  Jesuits,  chafing  under  the  sway  of 
Biencourt,  had  withdrawn  without  ceremony,  and 
betaken  themselves  to  the  vessel,  intending  to 
sail  for  France.  Biencourt,  exasperated  at  such  a 
breach  of  discipline,  and  fearing  their  representa- 
tions at  court,  ordered  them  to  return,  adding 
that,  since  the  Queen  had  commended  them  to  his 
especial  care,  he  could  not,  in  conscience,  lose  sight 
of  them.     The  indignant  fathers  excommunicated 

1  Biard,  Relation,  c.  19. 


1612.]  BIENCOURT  AND  THE  PRIESTS.  299 

him.  On  this,  the  sagamore  Louis,  son  of  the 
grisly  convert  Membertou,  begged  leave  to  kill 
them ;  but  Biencourt  would  not  countenance  this 
summary  mode  of  relieving  his  embarrassment. 
He  again,  in  the  King's  name,  ordered  the  clerical 
mutineers  to  return  to  the  fort.  Biard  declared 
that  he  would  not,  threatened  to  excommunicate 
any  who  should  lay  hand  on  him,  and  called  the 
Vice-Admiral  a  robber.  His  wrath,  however,  soon 
cooled ;  he  yielded'  to  necessity,  and  came  quietly 
ashore,  where,  for  the  next  three  months,  neither 
he  nor  his  colleagues  would  say  mass,  or  perform 
any  office  of  religion.^  At  length  a  change  came 
over  him ;  he  made  advances  of  peace,  prayed  that 
the  past  might  be  forgotten,  said  mass  again,  and 
closed  with  a  petition  that  Brother  du  Thet  might 
be  allowed  to  go  to  France  in  a  trading  vessel  then 
on  the  coast.  His  petition  being  granted,  he  wrote 
to  Poutrincourt  a  letter  overflowing  with  praises  of 
his  son ;  and,  charged  with  this  missive,  Du  Thet 
set  sail. 

1  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  676.  Biard  passes  over  the^  affair  in  Silence.  In 
his  letters  (see  Carayon)  prior  to  this  time,  he  speaks  favorably  both  of 
Biencourt  and  Foutriucourt. 


CHAPTER    VII. 
1613. 

LA  SAUSSAYE.  — ARGALL. 

Voyage  of  La  Saussaye.  —  Mount  Desert.  —  Argall  attacks  the 
French.  —  Death  of  Du  Thet.  —  St.  Sauveur  destroyed. 

Pending  these  squabbles,  the  Jesuits  at  home 
were  far  from  idle.  Bent  on  ridding  themselves  of 
Poutrincourt,  they  seized,  in  satisfaction  of  debts 
due  them,  all  the  cargo  of  his  returning  vessel,  and 
involved  him  in  a  network  of  litigation.  If  we  ac- 
cept his  own  statements  in  a  letter  to  his  friend 
Lescarbot,  he  was  outrageously  misused,  and  in- 
deed defrauded,  by  his  clerical  copartners,  who  at 
length  had  him  thrown  into  prison.-^  Her-e,  exas- 
perated, weary,  sick  of  Acadia,  and  anxious  for  the 
wretched  exiles  who  looked  to  him  for  succor,  the 
unfortunate  man  fell  ill.  Regaining  his  liberty,  he 
again  addressed  himself  witli  what  strength  re- 
mained to  the  forlorn  task  of  sending  relief  to  his 
son  and  his  comrades. 

Scarcely  had  Brother  Gilbert  du  Thet  arrived  in 
France,  when  Madame  de  Guercheville  and  her 
Jesuits,  strong  in  court  favor  and  in  the  charity 
of  wealthy  penitents,  prepared  to  take  possession 
of  their  empire  beyond  sea.     Contributions  were 

1  See  the  letter,  in  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  678. 


1613,]  VOYAGE  OF  LA  SAUSSAYE.  301 

asked,  and  not  in  vain ;  for  the  sagacious  fathers, 
mindful  of  every  spring  of  influence,  had  deeply 
studied  the  mazes  of  feminine  psychology,  and 
then,  as  now,  were  favorite  confessors  of  the  fair. 
It  was  on  the  twelfth  of  March,  1613,  that  the 
"  Mayflower "  of  the  Jesuits  sailed  from  Honfleur 
for  the  shores  of  New  England.  She  was  the 
"Jonas,"  formerly  in  the  service  of  De  Monts,  a 
small  craft  bearing  forty-eight  sailors  and  colonists, 
including  two  Jesuits,  Father  Quentin  and  Brother 
Du  Thet.  She  carried  horses,  too,  and  goats,  and 
was  abundantly  stored  with  all  things  needful  by 
the  pious  munificence  of  her  patrons.  A  courtier 
named  La  Saussaye  was  chief  of  the  colony,  Cap- 
tain Charles  Fleury  commanded  the  ship,^  and,  as 
she  winged  her  way  across  the  Atlantic,  benedic- 
tions hovered  over  her  from  lordly  halls  and  per- 
fumed chambers. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  May,  La  Saussaye  touched 
at  La  Heve,  where  he  heard  mass,  planted  a 
cross,  and  displayed  the  scutcheon  of  Madame  de 
Guercheville.  Thence,  passing  on  to  Port  Royal, 
he  found  Biard,  Masse,  their  servant -boy,  an 
apothecary,  and  one  man  beside.  Biencourt  and 
his  followers  were  scattered  about  the  woods  and 
shores,  digging  the  tuberous  roots  called  gi-ound- 
nuts,  catching  alewives  in  the  brooks,  and  by 
similar  expedients  sustaining  their  miserable  exist- 
ence.    Taking  the  two  Jesuits  on  board,  the  voy- 

1  Rapport  fait  a  I'Amirnid^  de  Rouen  par  Charles  Fleury,  Capitaine  du 
Jonas,  le  27  Aoiist,  1614.  I  am  indebted  to  M.  Gabriel  Gravier  of  Kouea 
for  a  copy  of  this  docomeut. 


302  LA   SAUSSAYE.  —  ARGALL.  [1613. 

agers  steered  for  the  Penobscot.  A  fog  rose  upon 
the  sea.  They  sailed  to  and  fro,  groping  their 
way  in  blindness,  straining  their  eyes  through  the 
mist,  and  trembling  each  instant  lest  they  should 
descry  the  black  outline  of  some  deadly  reef  and 
the  ghostly  death-dance  of  the  breakers.  But 
Heaven  heard  their  prayers.  At  night  they  could 
see  the  stars.-^  The  sun  rose  resplendent  on  a 
laughing  sea,  and  his  morning  beams  streamed 
fair  and  full  on  the  wild  heights  of  the  island  of 
Mount  Desert.  They  entered  a  bay  that  stretched 
inland  between  iron-bound  shores,  and  gave  it  the 
name  of  St.  Sauveur.  It  is  now  called  French- 
man's Bay.  They  saw  a  coast-line  of  weather- 
beaten  crags  set  thick  with  spruce  and  fir,  the 
surf-washed  cliffs  of  Great  Head  and  Schooner 
Head,  the  rocky  front  of  Newport  j\Iountain, 
patched  with  ragged  woods,  the  arid  domes  of 
Dry  Mountain  and  Green  Mountain,  the  round 
bristly  backs  of  the  Porcupine  Islands,  and  the 
waving  outline  of  the  Gouldsborough  Hills. 

La  Saussaye  cast  anchor  not  far  from  Schooner 
Head,  and  here  he  lay  till  evening.  The  jet-black 
shade  betwixt  crags  and  sea,  the  pines  along  the 
cliff,  pencilled  against  the  fiery  sunset,  the  dreamy 
slumber  of  distant  mountains  bathed  in  shadowy 
purple,  —  such  is  the  scene  that  in  this  our  day 

^  "  Saruint  en  mer  me  si  espaisse  brume,  que  nous  n'y  royons  pas  plas 
de  iour  que  de  nuict.     Nous  apprehendions  grandement  ce  danger,  parce 

qu'en  cct  endroict,  il  y  a  beaucoup  de  brisans  et  rochers De  sa 

bonfce',  Dieu  nous  exaucja,  car  le  soir  mesme  nous  commen^asmes  k  voir  les 
estoiles,  et  le  matin  les  broue'es  se  dissiperent;  nous  nous  reconnusmes 
estre  au  deuant  des  Monts  deserts."    Biard,  Relation,  c.  23. 


I613.J  MOUNT   DESERT.  303 

greets  the  wandering  artist,  the  roving  collegian 
bivouacked  on  the  shore,  or  the  pilgrim  from  stifled 
cities  renewing  his  jaded  strength  in  the  mighty 
life  of  Nature.  Perhaps  they  then  greeted  the  ad- 
venturous Frenchmen.  There  was  peace  on  the 
wilderness  and  peace  on  the  sea ;  but  none  in  this 
missionary  bark,  pioneer  of  Christianity  and  civili- 
zation. A  rabble  of  angry  sailors  clamored  on  her 
deck,  ready  to  mutiny  over  the  terms  of  their  en- 
gagement. Should  the  time  of  their  stay  be  reck- 
oned from  their  landing  at  La  Heve,  or  from  their 
anchoring  at  Momit  Desert?  Fleury,  the  naval 
commander,  took  their  part.  Sailor,  courtier,  and 
priest  gave  tongue  together  in  vociferous  debate. 
Poutrincourt  was  far  away,  a  ruined  man ;  and  the 
intractable  Vice-Admiral  had  ceased  from  troub- 
ling ;  yet  not  the  less  were  the  omens  of  the  pious 
enterprise  sinister  and  dark.  The  company,  how- 
ever, went  ashore,  raised,  a  cross,  and  heard  mass. 

At  a  distance  in  the  woods  they  saw  the  signal 
smoke  of  Indians,  whom  Biard  lost  no  time  in  vis- 
iting. Some  of  them  were  from  a  village  on  the 
shore,  three  leagues  westward.  They  urged  the 
French  to  go  with  them  to  their  wigwams.  The 
astute  savages  had  learned  already  how  to  deal 
with  a  Jesuit. 

"  Our  great  chief,  Asticou,  is  there.  He  wishes 
for  baptism.  He  is  very  sick.  He  will  die  unbap- 
tized.  He  will  burn  in  hell,  and  it  will  be  all  your 
fault." 

This  was  enough.  Biard  embarked  in  a  canoe, 
and  they  paddled  him  to  the  spot,  where  he  found 


304  LA  SAUSSAYE.  —  ARGALL.  [1613. 

the  great  chief,  Asticou,  in  his  wigwam,  with  a 
heavy  cold  in  the  head.  Disappointed  of  his  char- 
itable purpose,  the  priest  consoled  himself  with 
observing  the  beauties  of  the  neighboring  shore, 
which  seemed  to  him  better  fitted  than  St.  Sau- 
veur  for  the  intended  settlement.  It  was  a  gen- 
tle slope,  descending  to  the  water,  covered  with 
tall  grass,  and  backed  by  rocky  hills.  It  looked 
southeast  upon  a  harbor  where  a  fleet  might  ride 
at  anchor,  sheltered  from  the  gales  by  a  cluster  of 
islands.^ 

The  ship  was  brought  to  the  &pot,  and  the  coIch 
nists  disembarked.  First  they  planted  a  cross ; 
then  they  began  their  labors,  and,  with  their  la- 
bors, their  quarrels.  La  Saussaye,  zealous  for  ag- 
riculture, wished  to  break  ground  and  raise  crops 
immediately ;  the  rest  opposed  him,  wishing  first 
to  be  housed  and  fortified.  Fleury  demanded  that 
the  ship  should  be  unladen,  and  La  Saussaye  would 
not  consent.^     Debate  ran  high,  when  suddenly  all 

^  Biard  says  that  the  place  was  only  three  leagues  from  St.  Sanveur, 
and  that  he  could  go  and  return  in  an  afternoon.  He  adds  that  it  was 
"  se'pare  de  la  grande  Isle  des  Monts  Deserts."  He  was  evidently  mistaken 
in  this.  St.  Sauveur  being  on  the  east  side  of  Mount  Desert,  there  is  no 
place  separated  from  it,  and  answering  to  his  description,  which  he  could 
have  reached  within  the  time  mentioned.  He  no  doubt  crossed  Mount 
Desert  Sound,  which,  with  Soames's  Sound,  nearly  severs  the  island.  The 
settlement  must  have  been  on  the  western  side  of  Soames's  Sound.  Here, 
about  a  mile  from  the  open  sea,  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Femald,  is  a  spot  per- 
fectly answering  to  the  minute  description  of  Biard :  "  Le  terroir  noir,  gras, 
et  fertile ,  ....  la  jolie  colline  esleu(?e  doncement  sur  la  mer,  et  baignce  a 
ses  costez  de  deux  fontaines ;  .  .  .  .  les  petites  islettes  qui  rompent  les  flots  et 
les  vents.'"  The  situation  is  highly  picturesque.  On  the  opposite  or  east- 
'5rn  shore  of  the  sound  are  found  heaps  of  clam-shells  and  other  indica- 
tions of  an  Indian  village,  probably  that  of  Asticou.  I  am  indebted  to 
E.  L.  Hamlin,  Esq.,  of  Bangor,  for  pointing  out  this  locality. 

2  Rapport  de  Fleury  a  I'Amtrauti  de  Rouen. 


1613.]  THE  ENEMY  IN  SIGHT.  305 

was  harmony,  and  the  disputants  were  friends  once 
more  in  the  pacification  of  a  common  danger. 

Far  out  at  sea,  beyond  the  islands  that  sheltered 
their  harbor,  they  saw  an  approaching  sail ;  and, 
as  she  drew  near,  straining  their  anxious  eyes,  they 
could  descry  the  red  flags  that  streamed  from  her 
masthead  and  her  stern ;  then  the  black  muzzles  of 
her  cannon,  —  they  counted  seven  on  a  side ;  then 
the  throng  of  men  upon  her  decks.  The  wind  was 
brisk  and  fair ;  all  her  sails  were  set ;  she  came  on, 
writes  a  spectator,  more  swiftly  than  an  arrow.^ 

Six  years  before,  in  1607,  the  ships  of  Captain 
Newport  had  conveyed  to  the  banks  of  James  River 
the  first  vital  germ  of  English  colonization  on  the 
continent.  Noble  and  wealthy  speculators,  with 
Hispaniola,  Mexico,  and  Peru  for  their  inspiration, 
had  combined  to  gather  the  fancied  golden  harvest 
of  Vu'ginia,  received  a  charter  from  the  Crown,  and 
taken  possession  of  their  El  Dorado.  From  tavern, 
gaming-house,  and  brothel  was  drawn  the  staple 
of  the  colony,  —  ruined  gentlemen,  prodigal  sons, 
disreputable  retainers,  debauched  tradesmen.  Yet 
it  would  be  foul  slander  to  affirm  that  the  founders 
of  Virginia  were  all  of  this  stamp ;  for  among  the 
riotous  crew  were  men  of  worth,  and,  above  them 
all,  a  hero  disguised  by  the  homeliest  of  names. 
Again  and  again,  in  direst  woe  and  jeopardy,  the 
infant  settlement  owed  its  life  to  the  heart  and 
hand  of  John  Smith. 

1  "  La  nauire  Anglois  venoit  plus  viste  qu'un  dard,  ayant  le  vent  k  son- 
hait,  tout  pauis  de  rouge,  les  pauillons  d'Angleterre  flottans,  et  troia 
trompettes  et  deux  tambours  faisans  rage  de  sooner."  Biard,  Relation, 
c.  25. 

20 


306  LA  SAUSSAYE.  — AEGALL.  [leiS. 

Several  years  had  elapsed  since  Newport's  voy- 
age ;  and  the  colony,  depleted  by  famine,  disease, 
and  an  Indian  war,  had  been  recruited  by  fresh 
emigration,  when  one  Samuel  Argall  arrived  at 
Jamestown,  captain  of  an  illicit  trading-vessel. 
He  was  a  man  of  ability  and  force,  —  one  of  those 
compounds  of  craft  and  daring  in  which  the  age 
was  fruitful ;  for  the  rest,  unscrupulous  and  grasp- 
ing. In  the  spring  of  1613  he  achieved  a  charac- 
teristic exploit,  the  abduction  of  Pocahontas,  that 
most  interesting  of  young  squaws,  or,  to  borrow 
the  style  of  the  day,  of  Indian  princesses.  Sailing 
up  the  Potomac,  he  lured  her  on  board  his  ship, 
and  then  carried  off  the  benefactress  of  the  colony 
a  prisoner  to  Jamestown.  Here  a  young  man  of 
family,  Rolfe,  became  enamored  of  her,  married 
her  with  more  than  ordinary  ceremony,  and  thus 
secured  a  firm  alliance  between  her  tribesmen  and 
the  English. 

Meanwhile  Argall  had  set  forth  on  another  en- 
terprise. With  a  ship  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
tons,  carrying  fourteen  guns  and  sixty  men,  he 
sailed  in  May  for  islands  off  the  coast  of  Maine  to 
fish,  as  he  says,  for  cod.^  He  had  a  more  impor- 
tant errand,  for  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, had  commissioned  him  to  expel  the  French 
from  any  settlement  they  might  have  made  within 
the  limits  of  King  James's  patents.^  Thick  fogs 
involved  him ;  and,  when  the  weather  cleared,  he 
found  himself  not  far  from  the  Bay  of  Penobscot. 

1  Letter  of  Argall  to  Nicholas  Hawes,  June,  1613,  in  Purchas,  IV.  1764. 

2  Collections  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  Fourth  Series,  IX.  41,  489. 


1613.]  ARGALL  AND  HIS  PRIZE.  307 

Canoes  came  out  from  shore ;  the  Indians  climbed 
the  ship's  side,  and,  as  they  gained  the  deck, 
greeted  the  astonished  English  with  an  odd  panto- 
mime of  bows  and  flourishes,  which,  in  the  belief 
of  the  latter,  could  have  been  learned  from  none 
but  Frenchmen.^  By  signs,  too,  and  by  often 
repeating  the  word  Norman,  —  by  which  they 
always  designated  the  French,  —  they  betra3^ed 
the  presence  of  the  latter.  Argall  questioned  them 
as  well  as  his  total  ignorance  of  their  language 
would  permit,  and  learned,  by  signs,  the  position 
and  numbers  of  the  colonists.  Clearly  they  were 
no  match  for  him.  Assuring  the  Indians  that  the 
Normans  were  his  friends,  and  that  he  longed  to 
see  them,  he  retained  one  of  the  visitors  as  a 
guide,  dismissed  the  rest  with  presents,  and  shaped 
his  course  for  Mount  Desert.^ 

Now  the  wild  heights  rose  in  view ;  now  the 
English  could  see  the  masts  of  a  small  ship  an- 
chored in  the  sound ;  and  now,  as  they  rounded 
the  islands,  four  white  tents  were  visible  on  the 
grassy  slope  between  the  water  and  the  woods. 
They  were  a  gift  from  the  Queen  to  Madame 
de  Guercheville  and  her  missionaries.  Argall's 
men  prepared  for  fight,  while  their  Indian  guide, 
amazed,  broke  into  a  howl  of  lamentation. 

On  shore  all  was  confusion.     Bailleul,  the  pilot, 

*"....  et  aux  ceremonies  que  les  sauvages  faisoient  pour  leur  com- 
plaire,  ils  recognoissoient  que  c'etoient  ceremonies  de  courtoisie  et  ciuilitez 
franpoises."     Biard,  Relation,  c.  25. 

^  Holmes,  American  Annals,  by  a  misapprehension  of  Champlain's 
narrative,  represents  Argall  as  having  a  squadron  of  eleven  ships.  He 
certainly  had  but  one. 


308  LA  SAUSSAYE.— ARGALL.  [1613. 

went  to  reconnoitre,  and  ended  by  hiding  among 
the  islands.  La  Saussaye  lost  presence  of  mind, 
and  did  nothing  for  defence.  La  Motte,  his  lieu- 
tenant, with  Captain  Fleury,  an  ensign,  a  sergeant, 
the  Jesuit  Du  Thet,  and  a  few  of  the  bravest  men, 
hastened  on  board  the  vessel,  but  had  no  time  to 
cast  loose  her  cables.  Argall  bore  down  on  them, 
with  a  furious  din  of  drums  and  trumpets,  showed 
his  broadside,  aiid  replied  to  their  hail  with  a 
volley  of  cannon  and  musket  shot.  "  Fire !  Fire  1 " 
screamed  Fleury.  But  there  was  no  gunner  to 
obey,  till  Du  Thet  seized  and  applied  the  match. 
"  The  cannon  made  as  much  noise  as  the  enemy's," 
writes  Biard ;  but,  as  the  inexperienced  artillerist 
forgot  to  aim  the  piece,  no  other  result  ensued. 
Another  storm  of  musketry,  and  Brother  Gilbert 
du  Thet  rolled  helpless  on  the  deck.  The  French 
ship  was  mute.  The  English  plied  her  for  a  time 
with  shot,  then  lowered  a  boat  and  boarded. 
Under  the  awnings  which  covered  her,  dead  and 
wounded  men  lay  strewn  about  her  deck,  and 
among  them  the  brave  lay  brother,  smothering  in 
his  blood.  He  had  his  wish;  for,  on  leaving 
France,  he  had  prayed  with  uplifted  hands  that 
he  might  not  return,  but  perish  in  that  holy  enter- 
prise. Like  the  Order  of  which  he  was  a  humble 
member,  he  was  a  compound  of  qualities  in  ap- 
pearance contradictory.  La  Motte,  sword  in  hand, 
showed  fight  to  the  last,  and  won  the  esteem  of 
his  captors.^ 

1  Fleury,  who  was  wounded,  greatly  blames  the  flight  of  La  Saussaye : 
"  Si  luy  et  ses  diets  compagnons  eussent  donne  combat  et  se  fussent  de- 


>613.I  CONDUCT  OF  ARGALL.  309 

The  English  landed  without  meeting  any  show 
of  resistance,  and  ranged  at  will  among  the  tents, 
the  piles  of  baggage  and  stores,  and  the  buildings 
and  defences  newly  begun.  Argall  asked  for  the 
C9mmander,  but  La  Saussaye  had  fled  to  the  woods. 
The  crafty  Englishman  seized  his  chests,  caused 
the  locks  to  be  picked,  searched  till  he  found  the 
royal  letters  and  commissions,  withdrew  them, 
replaced  everything  else  as  he  had  found  it,  and 
again  closed  the  lids.  In  the  morning.  La  Saus- 
saye, between  the  English  and  starvation,  pre- 
ferred the  former,  and  issued  from  his  hiding-place. 
Argall  received  him  with  studious  courtesy.  That 
country,  he  said,  belonged  to  his  master,  King 
James.  Doubtless  they  had  authority  from  their 
own  sovereign  for  thus  encroaching  upon  it ;  and, 
for  his  part,  he  was  prepared  to  yield  all  respect 
to  the  commissions  of  the  king  of  France,  that 
the  peace  between  the  two  nations  might  not  be 
disturbed.  Therefore  he  prayed  that  the  commis- 
sions might  be  shown  to  him.  La  Saussaye  opened 
his  chests.  The  royal  signature  was  nowhere  to 
be  found.  At  this,  Argall's  courtesy  was  changed 
to  wrath.  He  denounced  the  Frenchmen  as  rob- 
bers and  pirates  who  deserved  the  gallows,  re- 
moved their  property  on  board  his  ship,  and  spent 
the  afternoon  in  dividing  it  among  his  followers. 
The  disconsolate  French  remained  on  the  scene  of 
their  woes,  where  the  greedy  sailors  as  they  came 

fendns,  le  diet  navire  n'eust  este  prins."  In  a  reply  to  complaints  of  the 
French  ambassador,  it  was  said  that  the  French  fired  the  first  shot.  See 
'Coll.  Mass.  Hist.  Soc,  Fourth  Series,  IX.  489. 


310  LA  SAUSSAYE.  — ARGALL.  [1613. 

ashore  would  snatch  from  them,  now  a  cloak,  now 
a  hat,  and  now  a  doublet,  till  the  unfortunate 
colonists  were  left  half  naked.  In  other  respects 
the  English  treated  their  captives  well,  —  except 
two  of  them,  w^hom  they  flogged;  and  Argall, 
whom  Biard,  after  recounting  his  knavery,  calls 
"  a  gentleman  of  noble  courage,"  having  gained 
his  point,  returned  to  his  former  courtesy. 

But  how  to  dispose  of  the  prisoners  ?  Fifteen 
of  them,  including  La  Saussaye  and  the  Jesuit 
Masse,  were  turned  adrift  in  an  open  boat,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  wilderness  and  the  sea.  Nearly  all 
were  landsmen  ;  but  while  their  unpractised  hands 
were  struggling  with  the  oars,  they  were  joined 
among  the  islands  by  the  fugitive  pilot  and  his 
boat's  crew.  Worn  and  half  starved,  the  united 
bands  made  their  perilous  way  eastward,  stop- 
ping from  time  to  time  to  hear  mass,  make  a 
procession,  or  catch  codfish.  Thus  sustained  in 
the  spirit  and  in  the  flesh,  cheered  too  by  the 
Indians,  who  proved  fast  friends  in  need,  they 
crossed  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  doubled  Cape  Sable, 
and  followed  the  southern  coast  of  Nova  Scotia, 
till  they  happily  fell  in  with  two  French  trading- 
vessels,  which  bore  them  in  safety  to  St.  Malo. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1613-1615. 

RUIN  OF  FRENCH  ACADIA. 

The  Jesuits  at  Jamestown.  —  Wkath  of  Sir  Thomas  Dale.  —  A 
New  Expedition.  —  Port  Royal  demolished. — Equivocal  Pos- 
ture OF  the  Jesuits.  —  Their  Adventures.  —  The  French 
will  NOT  abandon  Acadia. 

''  Praised  be  God,  behold  two  thirds  of  our  com- 
pany safe  in  France,  telling  their  strange  adven- 
tures to  their  relatives  and  friends.  And  now  you 
will  wish  to  know  what  befell  the  rest  of  us."  ^ 
Thus  writes  Father  Biard,  who,  with  his  compan- 
ions in  misfortune,  fourteen  in  all,  prisoners  on 
board  Argall's  ship  and  the  prize,  were  borne  cap- 
tive to  Virginia.  Old  Point  Comfort  was  reached 
at  length,  the  site  of  Fortress  Monroe ;  Hampton 
Roads,  renowned  in  our  day  for  the  sea-fight  of  the 
Titans ;  Se well's  Point ;  the  Rip  Raps ;  Newport 
News ;  —  all  household  words  in  the  ears  of  this 
generation.  Now,  far  on  their  right,  buried  in  the 
damp  shade  of  immemorial  verdure,  lay,  untrodden 
and  voiceless,  the  fields  where  stretched  the  leaguer- 
ing  lines  of  Washington,  where  the  lilies  of  France 
floated  beside  the  banners  of  the  new-born  repub- 

1  "  Dieu  soit  beny.  Voyla  ja  les  deux  tiers  de  nostre  troupe  reconduicts 
en  France  sains  et  sauues  parmy  leurs  parents  et  amis,  qui  les  oyent  center 
leurs  grandes  aventures.  Ores  consequemment  vous  desirez  sfauoir  ce  qui 
deuiendra  I'autre  tiers."    Biard,  Relation,  c.  28. 


312  RUIN  OF   FRENCH  ACADIA.  [161 3, 

lie,  and  where,  in  later  years,  embattled  treason 
confronted  the  manhood  of  an  outraged  nation.^ 
And  now  before  them  they  could  descry  the  masts 
of  small  craft  at  anchor,  a  cluster  of  rude  dwellings 
fresh  from  the  axe,  scattered  tenements,  and  fields 
green  with  tobacco. 

Throughout  the  voyage  the  prisoners  had  been 
soothed  with  flattering  tales  of  the  benignity  of 
the  Governor  of  Virginia,  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  his 
love  of  the  French,  and  his  respect  for  the  memory 
of  Henry  the  Fourth,  to  whom,  they  were  told,  he 
was  much  beholden  for  countenance  and  favor.  On 
their  landing  at  Jamestown,  this  consoling  picture 
was  reversed.  The  Governor  fumed  and  blustered, 
talked  of  halter  and  gallows,  and  declared  that  he 
would  hang  them  all.  In  vain  Argall  remonstrated, 
urging  that  he  had  pledged  his  word  for  their  lives. 
Dale,  outraged  by  their  invasion  of  British  terri- 
tory, was  deaf  to  all  appeals ;  till  Argall,  driven  to 
extremity,  displayed  the  stolen  commissions,  and 
proclaimed  his  stratagem,  of  which  the  French 
themselves  had  to  that  moment  been  ignorant.  As 
they  were  accredited  by  their  government,  their 
lives  at  least  were  safe.  Yet  the  wrath  of  Sir 
Thomas  Dale  still  burned  high.  He  summoned  his 
council,  and  they  resolved  promptly  to  wipe  off  all 
stain  of  French  intrusion  from  shores  which  King 
James  claimed  as  his  own. 

Their  action  was  utterly  unauthorized.  The  two 
kingdoms  were  at  peace.  James  the  First,  by  the 
patents  of  1606,  had  granted  all  North  America, 

1  Written  immediately  after  the  War  of  Secession. 


1613.]  SECOND  EXPEDITION  OF   ARGALL.  313 

from  the  thirty-fourth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of 
latitude,  to  the  two  companies  of  London  and  Ply- 
mouth, Virginia  being  assigned  to  the  former,  while 
to  the  latter  were  given  Maine  and  Acadia,  with 
adjacent  regions.  Over  these,  though  as  yet  the 
claimants  had  not  taken  possession  of  them,  the 
authorities  of  Virginia  had  no  color  of  jurisdiction. 
England  claimed  all  North  America,  in  virtue  of 
the  discovery  of  Cabot ;  and  Sir  Thomas  Dale  be- 
came the  self-constituted  champion  of  British  rights, 
not  the  less  zealous  that  his  championship  promised 
a  harvest  o^  booty. 

Argall's  ship,  the  captured  ship  of  La  Saussaye, 
and  another  smaller  vessel,  were  at  once  equipped 
and  despatched  on  their  errand  of  havoc.  Argall 
commanded ;  and  Biard,  with  Quentin  and  several 
others  of  the  prisoners,  were  embarked  with  him.^ 
They  shaped  their  course  first  for  Mount  Desert. 
Here  they  landed,  levelled  La  Saussaye' s  unfinished 
defences,  cut  down  the  French  cross,  and  planted 
one  of  their  own  in  its  place.  Next  they  sought 
out  the  island  of  St.  Croix,  seized  a  quantity  of 
salt,  and  razed  to  the  ground  all  that  remained 
of  the  dilapidated  buildings  of  De  Monts.  They 
crossed  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  Port  Royal,  guided, 
says  Biard,  by  an  Indian  chief,  —  an  improbable 
assertion,  since  the  natives  of  these  coasts  hated 
the  English  as  much  as  they  loved  the  French,  and 

^  In  his  Relation,  Biard  does  not  explain  the  reason  of  his  accompany- 
ing the  expedition.  In  his  letter  to  the  General  of  the  Jesuits,  dated 
Amiens,  26  May,  1614,  (Carayon,)  he  says  that  it  was  "dans  le  dessein  de 
profiter  de  la  premiere  occasion  qui  se  rencontrerait,  pour  nous  renvoyer 
dans  notre  patrie." 


314  RUIN  OF  FRENCH  ACADIA.  [1613. 

now  well  knew  the  designs  of  the  former.  The 
unfortunate  settlement  was  tenantless.  Biencourt, 
with  some  of  his  men,  was  on  a  visit  to  neighboring 
bands  of  Indians,  while  the  rest  were  reaping  in 
the  fields  on  the  river,  two  leagues  above  the  fort. 
Succor  from  Poutrincourt  had  arrived  during  the 
summer.  The  magazines  were  by  no  means  empty, 
and  there  were  cattle,  horses,  and  hogs  in  adjacent 
fields  and  enclosures.  Exulting  at  their  good  for- 
tune, Argall's  men  butchered  or  carried  off  the  ani- 
mals, ransacked  the  buildings,  plundered  them  even 
to  the  locks  and  bolts  of  the  doors,  and  then  laid 
the  whole  in  ashes ;  ^'  and  may  it  please  the  Lord," 
adds  the  pious  Biard,  "  that  the  sins  therein  com- 
mitted may  likewise  have  been  consumed  in  that 
burning." 

Having  demolished  Port  Royal,  the  marauders 
went  in  boats  up  the  ri^^er  to  the  fields  where  the 
reapers  were  at  work.  These  fled,  and  took  refuge 
behind  the  ridge  of  a  hill,  whence  they  gazed  help- 
lessly  on  the  destruction  of  their  harvest.  Biard 
approached  them,  and,  according  to  the  declara- 
tion of  Poutrincourt  made  and  attested  before  the 
Admiralty  of  Guienne,  tried  to  persuade  them  to 
desert  his  son,  Biencourt,  and  take  service  with 
Argall.  The  reply  of  one  of  the  men  gave  little 
encouragement  for  further  parley :  — 

"Begone,  or  I  will  split  your  head  with  this 
hatchet." 

There  is  flat  contradiction  here  between  the  nar- 
rative of  the  Jesuit  and  the  accounts  of  Poutrin- 
court and  contemporary  English  writers,  who  agree 


1613.]  CONDUCT  OF  BIARD,  315 

in  affirming  that  Biard,  "  out  of  indigestible  malice 
that  he  had  conceived  against  Biencourt,"  ^  encour- 
aged the  attack  on  the  settlements  of  St.  Croix  and 
Port  Royal,  and  guided  the  English  thither.  The 
priest  himself  admits  that  both  French  and  English 
regarded  him  as  a  traitor,  and  that  his  life  was  in 
danger.  While  Argall's  ship  was  at  anchor,  a 
Frenchman  shouted  to  the  English  from  a  distance 
that  they  would  do  well  to  kill  him.  The  master 
of  the  ship,  a  Puritan,  in  his  abomination  of  priests, 
and  above  all  of  Jesuits,  was  at  the  same  time 
urging  his  commander  to  set  Biard  ashore  and 
leave  him  to  the  mercy  of  his  countrymen.  In  this 
pass,  he  was  saved,  to  adopt  his  own  account,  by 
what  he  calls  his  simplicity ;  for  he  tells  us,  that, 
while  —  instigated,  like  the  rest  of  his  enemies,  by 
the  Devil  —  the  robber  and  the  robbed  were  joining 
hands  to  ruin  him,  he  was  on  his  knees  before  Ar- 
gall,  begging  him  to  take  pity  on  the  French,  and 
leave  them  a  boat,  together  with  provisions  to  sus- 
tain their  miserable  lives  through  the  winter.  This 
spectacle  of  charity,  he  further  s^ys,  so  moved  the 
noble  heart  of  the  commander,  that  he  closed  his 
ears  to  all  the  promptings  of  foreign  and  domestic 
malice.^ 


1  Briefe  Intelligence  from  Virginia  by  Letters.  See  Purchas,  IV.  1808. 
Compare  Poutrincourt's  letter  to  Lescarbot,  in  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  684. 
Also,  Plainte  du  Sieur  de  Poutrincourt  devant  le  Juge  de  l'Admiraut€  de 
Gui/enne,  Lescarbot,  687. 

2  "  le  ne  sc^ay  qui  secourut  tant  a  propos  le  lesuite  en  ce  danger  que  sa 
simplicite.  Car  tout  de  mesme  que  s'il  eust  estc'  bieu  fauorise'  et  qu'il  eust 
peu  beaucoup  enuers  ledit  Anglois,  il  se  mit  a  genoux  deuant  le  Capitaine 
par  deux  diuerses  fois  et  a  deux  diuerses  occasions,  a  celle  fin  de  le  flechir 
a  misericorde  enuers  les  Fran9ois  du  dit  Port  Royal  esgare's  par  les  bois,  et 


316  RUIN  OF  FRENCH  ACAUIA.  [1613. 

The  English  had  scarcely  re-embarked,  when 
Biencourt  arrived  with  his  followers,  and  beheld 
the  scene  of  destruction.  Hopelessly  outnumbered, 
he  tried  to  lure  Argall  and  some  of  his  officers  into 
an  ambuscade,  but  they  would  not  be  entrapped. 
Biencourt  now  asked  for  an  interview.  The  word 
of  honor  was  mutually  given,  and  the  two  chiefs 
met  in  a  meadow  not  far  from  the  demolished 
dwellings.  An  anonymous  English  writer  says 
that  Biencourt  offered  to  transfer  his  allegiance  to 
King  James,  on  condition  of  being  permitted  to 
remain  at  Port  Royal  and  carry  on  the  fur-trade 
under  a  guaranty  of  English  protection  ;  but  that 
Argall  would  not  listen  to  his  overtures.-^  The  in- 
terview proved  a  stormy  one.  Biard  says  that  the 
Frenchman  vomited  against  him  every  species  of 
malignant  abuse.  "  In  the  mean  time,"  he  adds, 
"  you  will  considerately  observe  to  what  madness 
the  evil  spirit  exciteth  those  who  sell  themselves  to 
him."  2 

According  to  Poutrincourt,^  Argall  admitted 
that  the   priest   had   urged   him    to  attack   Port 

pour  luy  persuader  de  leur  laisser  quelques  viures,  leur  chaloupe  et  quelqu'- 
autre  moyen  de  passer  I'hyuer.  Et  voyez  combien  differeutes  petitions 
on  faisoit  audit  Capitaine :  car  au  mesme  temps  que  le  P.  Biard  le  sup- 
plioit  ainsi  pour  les  Francois,  vn  Fran9ois  crioit  de  loin,  avec  outrages  et 
iniures,  qu'il  le  falloit  massacrer. 

"Or  Argal,  qui  est  d'vn  cceur  noble,  voyant  ceste  tant  sincere  affection 
du  lesuite,  et  de  I'autre  coste'  tant  bestiale  et  enrage'e  inhumauite  de  ce 
Francois,  laquelle  ne  recognoissoit  ny  sa  propre  nation,  ny  bien-faicts,  ny 
religion,  ny  estoit  dompte'  par  I'affliction  et  verges  de  Dieu,  estima,"  etc. 
Biard,  Relation,  c.  29.     He  writes  throughout  in  the  third  person. 

^  Briefe  Intelligence,  Purchas,  IV.  1808. 

2  Biard,  c.  29  :  "  Cependant  vous  remarquerez  sagenjent  iusques  % 
quelle  rage  le  malin  esprit  agite  ceux  qui  se  vendent  k  luy." 

3  Plainte  du  Sieur  de  Poutrincourt,  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  689. 


I613.J  ADVENTUKES  OF   BIARD.  317 

Royal.  Certain  it  is,  that  Biencourt  demanded 
his  surrender,  frankly  declaring  that  he  meant  to 
hang  him.  "  Whilest  they  were  discoursing  to- 
gether," says  the  old  English  writer  above  men- 
tioned, •'  one  of  the  savages,  rushing  suddenly  forth 
from  the  Woods,  and  licentiated  to  come  neere, 
did  after  his  manner,  with  such  broken  French  as 
he  had,  earnestly  mediate  a  peace,  wondring  why 
they  that  seemed  to  be  of  one  Country  should  vse 
others  with  such  hostilitie,  and  that  with  such  a 
forme  of  habit  and  gesture  as  made  them  both  to 
laugh."  1 

His  work  done,  and,  as  he  thought,  the  French 
settlements  of  Acadia  effectually  blotted  out,  Ar- 
gall  set  sail  for  Virginia  on  the  thirteenth  of  No- 
vember. Scarcely  was  he  at  sea  when  a  storm 
scattered  the  vessels.  Of  the  smallest  of  the  three 
nothing  was  ever  heard.  Argall,  severely  buffeted, 
reached  his  port  in  safety,  having  first,  it  is  said, 
compelled  the  Dutch  at  Manhattan  to  acknowledge 
for  a  time  the  sovereignty  of  King  James.^  The 
captured  ship  of  La  Saussaye,  with  Biard  and  his 
colleague  Quentin  on  board,  was  forced  to  yield 
to  the  fury  of  the  western  gales,  and  bear  away 
for  the  Azores.  To  Biard  the  change  of  destina- 
tion was  not  unwelcome.  He  stood  in  fear  of  the 
truculent  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  his  tempest- 
rocked   slumbers  were  haunted   with   unpleasant 

1  Purchas,  IV.  1808. 

"^  Description  of  the  Province  of  New  Albion,  in  New  York  Historical 
Collections,  Second  Series,  I.  335.  The  statement  is  doubtful.  It  is  sup 
ported,  however,  by  the  excellent  authority  of  Dr.  O^Callaghan,  History 
of  New  Netherland,  I.  69. 


318  RUIN  OF  FRENCH  ACADIA.  [1613. 

visions  of  a  rope's  end.-^  It  seems  that  some  of 
the  French  at  Port  Royal,  disappointed  in  their 
hope  of  hanging  him,  had  commended  him  to  Sir 
Thomas  Dale  as  a  proper  subject  for  the  gallows, 
drawing  up  a  paper,  signed  by  six  of  them,  and 
containing  allegations  of  a  nature  well  fitted  to 
kindle  the  wrath  of  that  vehement  official.  The 
vessel  was  commanded  by  Turn  el,  Argall's  lieuten- 
ant, apparently  an  officer  of  merit,  a  scholar  and 
linguist.  He  had  treated  his  prisoner  with  great 
kindness,  because,  says  the  latter,  "he  esteemed 
and  loved  him  for  his  naive  simplicity  and  ingenu- 
ous candor."  ^  But  of  late,  thinking  his  kindness 
misplaced,  he  had  changed  it  for  an  extreme  cold- 
ness, preferring,  in  the  words  of  Biard  himself,  "  to 
think  that  the  Jesuit  had  lied,  rather  than  so 
many  who  accused  him."  ^ 

Water  ran  low,  provisions  began  to  fail,  and 
they  eked  out  their  meagre  supply  by  butchering 
the  horses  taken  at  Port  Royal.  At  length  they 
came  within  sight  of  Fayal,  when  a  new  terror 
seized  the  minds  of  the  two  Jesuits.  Might  not 
the  Englishmen  fear  that  their  prisoners  would 
denounce  them  to  the  fervent  Catholics  of  that 
island  as  pirates  and  sacrilegious  kidnappers  of 
priests?     From  such  hazard  the  escape  was  obvi- 

1  "  Le  Mareschal  Thomas  Deel  (que  vous  avez  ouy  estre  fort  aspre  en 
ses  humeurs)  ....  attendoiten  bon  deuotion  le  Pere  Biard  pour  luy  tost 
accourcir  les  voyages,  luy  faisant  trouuer  au  milieu  d'une  eschelle  le  bout 
du  monde."     Biard,  Relation,  c.  30,  33. 

2  " .  .  .  .  il  avoit  faict  estat  de  le  priser  et  I'aymer  pour  sa  na'ifue  sim- 
plicity et  ouuerte  candeur."     Ibid.,  c.  30. 

8  •'....  il  aimoit  mieux  croire  que  le  lesuite  fust  menteur  que  noD 
pas  tant  d'autres  qui  I'accusoyent."    Ibid, 


1613.J  ADVENTUEES  OF  BIARD.  319 

ous.  What  more  simple  than  to  drop  the  priests 
into  the  sea  ?  ^  In  truth,  the  English  had  no  little 
dread  of  the  results  of  conference  between  the  Jes- 
uits and  the  Portuguese  authorities  of  Fayal ;  but 
the  conscience  or  humanity  of  Turnel  revolted  at 
the  expedient  which  awakened  such  apprehension 
in  the  troubled  mind  of  Biard.  He  contented  him- 
self with  requiring  that  the  two  priests  should 
remain  hidden  while  the  ship  lay  off  the  port. 
Biard  does  not  say  that  he  enforced  the  demand 
either  by  threats  or  by  the  imposition  of  oaths. 
He  and  his  companion,  however,  rigidly  complied 
with  it,  lying  close  in  the  hold  or  under  the 
boats,  while  suspicious  officials  searched  the  ship, 
—  a  proof,  he  triumphantly  declares,  of  the  auda- 
cious malice  which  has  asserted  it  as  a  tenet  of 
Rome  that  no  faith  need  be  kept  with  heretics. 

Once  more  at  sea,  Turnel  shaped  his  course  for 
home,  having,  with  some  difficulty,  gained  a  supply 
of  water  and  provisions  at  Fayal.  All  was  now 
harmony  between  him  and  his  prisoners.  "VYhen 
he  reached  Pembroke,  in  Wales,  the  appearance  of 
the  vessel  —  a  French  craft  in  English  hands  — 
again  drew  upon  him  the  suspicion  of  piracy.  The 
Jesuits,  dangerous  witnesses  among  the  Catholics 
ot  Fayal,  could  at  the  worst  do  little  harm  with 
the  Vice- Admiral  at  Pembroke.  To  him,  there- 
fore, he  led  the  prisoners,  in  the  sable  garb  of  their 
order,  now  much   the  worse  for  wear,  and  com- 

^  "  Ce  souci  notis  inquietait  fort.  Qn'allaient-ils  faire  1  Nou8  jette- 
raient-ils  h  I'eatf?  "  Lettre  du  P.  Biard  an  T.  R.  P.  Claude  Aqiiav'iva, 
Amiens,  26  Mai,  1614,  in  Carayon,  106.  Like  all  Biard's  letters  to  Aqua- 
viva,  this  is  translated  from  the  original  Latin. 


320  RUIN  OF  FRENCH  ACADIA.  [1614. 

mended  them  as  persons  without  reproach,  "  where- 
in," adds  the  modest  father,  "he  spoke  the  truth."  ^ 
The  result  of  their  evidence  was,  we  are  told,  that 
Turnel  was  henceforth  treated,  not  as  a  pirate,  but, 
according  to  his  deserts,  as  an  honorable  gentleman. 
This  interview  led  to  a  meeting  with  certain  dig- 
nitaries of  the  Anglican  Church,  who,  much  inter- 
ested in  an  encounter  with  Jesuits  in  their  robes, 
were  filled,  says  Biard,  with  wonder  and  admira- 
tion at  what  they  were  told  of  their  conduct.^  He 
explains  that  these  churchmen  differ  widely  in  form 
and  doctrine  from  the  English  Calvinists,  who,  he 
says,  are  called  Puritans ;  and  he  adds,  that  they 
are  superior  in  every  respect  to  these,  whom  they 
detest  as  an  execrable  pest.^ 

Biard  was  sent  to  Dover  and  thence  to  Calais, 
returning,  perhaps,  to  the  tranquil  honors  of  his 
chair  of  theology  at  Lyons.  La  Saussaye,  La 
Motte,  Fleury,  and  other  prisoners,,  were,  at  vari- 
ous times,  sent  from  Virginia  to  England,  and  ulti- 
mately to  France.  Madame  de  Guercheville,  her 
pious  designs  crushed  in  the  bud,  seems  to  have 
gained  no  further  satisfaction  than  the  restoration 
of  the  vessel.  The  French  ambassador  complained 
of  the  outrage,  but  answer  was  postponed ;  and,  in 
the  troubled  state  of  France,  the  matter  appears 
to  have  been  dropped.* 

1  "...  .  gens  irreprochables,  ce  disoit-il,  et  disoit  vray."  Biard, 
Relation,  c.  32. 

2  ".  .  .  .  et  les  ministres  en  demonstroyent  grands  signes  estonne- 
ment  et  d'admiration."    Ibid.,  c.  31. 

'"....  et  les  detestent  comme  peste  execrable."    Ibid.,  c.  32. 
*  Order  of  Council  respecting  certain  claims  against  Capt.  Argall,  etc.    An- 
steer  to  the  preceding  Order.     See  Colonkd  Documents  of  New  York;  III.  1,  2. 


1615.1  FORTUNES  OF  POUTRINCOURT.  321 

Argall,  whose  violent  and  crafty  character  was 
offset  by  a  gallant  bearing  and  various  traits  of 
martial  virtue,  became  Deputy-Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, and,  under  a  military  code,  ruled  the  colony 
with  a  rod  of  iron.  He  enforced  the  observance 
of  Sunday  with  an  edifying  rigor.  Those  who  ab- 
sented themselves  from  church  were,  for  the  first 
offence,  imprisoned  for  the  night,  and  reduced  to 
slavery  for  a  week;  for  the  second  offence,  en- 
slaved a  month ;  and  for  the  third,  a  year.  Nor 
was  he  less  strenuous  in  his  devotion  to  mammon. 
He  enriched  himself  by  extortion  and  wholesale 
peculation,  and  his  audacious  dexterity,  aided  by 
the  countenance  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  who  is 
said  to  have  had  a  trading  connection  with  him, 
thwarted  all  the  efforts  of  the  company  to  bring 
him  to  account.  In  1623,  he  was  knighted  by  the 
hand  of  King  James.^ 

Early  in  the  spring  following  the  English  at- 
tack, Poutrincourt  came  to  Port  Royal.  He  found 
the  place  in  ashes,  and  his  unfortunate  son,  with 
the  men  under  his  command,  wandering  houseless 
in  the  forests.  They  had  passed  a  winter  of  ex- 
treme misery,  sustaining  their  wretched  existence 
with  roots,  the  buds  of  trees,  and  lichens  peeled 
from  the  rocks. 

Despairing  of  his  enterprise,  Poutrincourt  re- 
turned to  France.  In  the  next  year,  1615,  during 
the  civil  disturbances  which  followed  the  marriage 

1  Argall's  history  may  be  gleaned  from  Purchas,  Smith,  Stith,  Gorges, 
Beverly,  etc.  An  excellent  summary  will  be  found  in  Belknap's  American 
Biographi/,  and  a  briefer  one  in  Allen's. 

21 


322  RUIN  OF  FRENCH  ACADIA.  [1615. 

of  the  King,  command  was  given  him  of  the  royal 
forces  destined  for  the  attack  on  Mery ;  and  here, 
happier  in  his  death  than  in  his  life,  he  fell,  sword 
in  hand.^ 

In  spite  of  their  reverses,  the  French  kept  hold 
on  Acadia.^  Biencourt,  partially  at  least,  rebuilt 
Port  Royal ;  while  winter  after  winter  the  smoke 
of  fur-traders'  huts  curled  into  the  still,  sharp  air 
of  these  frosty  wilds,  till  at  length,  with  happier 
auspices,  plans  of  settlement  were  resumed.^ 

Rude  hands  strangled  the  "  Northern  Paraguay  " 
in  its  birth.  Its  beginnings  had  been  feeble,  but 
behind  were  the  forces  of  a  mighty  organization, 
at  once  devoted  and  ambitious,  enthusiastic  and 
calculating.  Seven  years  later  the  Mayflower 
landed  her  emigrants  at  Plymouth.  What  would 
have  been  the  issues  had  the  zeal  of  the  pious 
lady  of  honor  preoccupied  New  England  with  a 
Jesuit  colony? 

1  Nobilissimi  Herois  Potrincurtti  Epitaphium,  Lescarbot,  (1618,)  694. 
He  took  the  town,  but  was  killed  immediately  after  by  a  treacherous  shot, 
in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried  on  his  barony  of  St. 
Just. 

2  According  to  Biard,  more  than  five  hundred  French  vessels  sailed 
annually,  at  this  time,  to  America,  for  the  whale  and  cod  fishery  and  the 
fur-trade. 

3  There  is  an  autograph  letter  in  the  Archives  de  la  Marine  from  Bien- 
court, —  who  had  succeeded  to  his  father's  designation,  —  written  at  Port 
Koyal  in  September,  1618,  and  addressed  "aux  Autoritc's  de  la  Ville  de 
Paris,"  in  which  he  urges  upon  them  the  advantages  of  establishing  for- 
tified posts  in  Acadia,  thus  defending  it  against  incursions  of  the  English, 
who  had  lately  seized  a  French  trader  from  Dieppe,  and  insuring  the  con- 
tinuance and  increase  of  the  traffic  in  furs,  from  which  the  city  of  Paris 
derived  such  advantages.  Moreover,  he  adds,  it  will  serve  as  an  asylum 
for  the  indigent  and  suffering  of  the  city,  to  their  owti  great  benefit  and  the 
jvlvantage  of  the  municipality,  who  will  be  relieved  of  the  burden  of  their 
maintenance.     It  does  not  appear  that  the  city  responded  to  his  appeal. 


1615.]  FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND.  323 

In  an  obscure  stroke  of  lawless  violence  began 
the  strife  of  France  and  England,  Protestantism 
and  Rome,  which  for  a  century  and  a  half  shook 
the  struggling  communities  of  North  America,  and 
closed  at  last  in  the  memorable  triumph  on  the 
Plains  of  Abraham. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

1608, 1609. 

CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC. 

A  New  Enterprise.  —  The  St.  Lawrence.  —  Conflict  with 
Basques.  —  Tadoussac.  —  Quebec  founded.  —  Conspiracy.  — 
Winter.  —  The  Montagnais.  —  Spring.  —  Projects  of  Explo- 
ration. 

A  LONELY  ship  sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence. 
The  white  whales  floundering  in  the  Bay  of  Ta- 
doussac, and  the  wild  duck  diving  as  the  foaming 
prow  drew  near,  —  there  was  no  life  but  these  in 
all  that  watery  solitude,  twenty  miles  from  shore 
to  shore.  The  ship  was  from  Honfleur,  and  was 
commanded  by  Samuel  de  Champlain.  He  was 
the  ^neas  of  a  destined  people,  and  in  her  womb 
lay  the  embryo  life  of  Canada. 

De  Monts,  after  his  exclusive  privilege  of  trade 
was  revoked,  and  his  Acadian  enterprise  ruined, 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  abandoned  it  to  Poutrin- 
court.  Perhaps  would  it  have  been  well  for  him 
had  he  abandoned  with  it  all  Transatlantic  en- 
terprises; but  the  passion  for  discovery  and  the 
noble  ambition  of  founding  colonies  had  taken 
possession  of  his  mind.  These,  rather  than  a  mere 
hope  of  gain,  seem  to  have  been  his  controlling 
motives;   yet   the   profits   of   the   fur-trade  were 


1608.]  VIEWS  OF  CHAMPLAIN.  325 

vital  to  the  new  designs  he  was  meditating,  to 
meet  the  heavy  outlay  they  demanded ;  and  he 
solicited  and  obtained  a  fresh  monopoly  of  the 
traffic  for  one  year.^ 

Champlain  was,  at  the  time,  in  Paris ;  but  his 
unquiet  thoughts  turned  westward.  He  was  en- 
amored of  the  New  World,  whose  rugged  charms 
had  seized  his  fancy  and  his  heart ;  and  as  ex- 
plorers of  Arctic  seas  have  pined  in  their  repose 
for  polar  ice  and  snow,  so  did  his  restless  thoughts 
revert  to  the  fog-wrapped  coasts,  the  piny  odors  of 
forests,  the  noise  of  waters,  the  sharp  and  piercing 
sunlight,  so  dear  to  his  remembrance.  He  longed 
to  unveil  the  mystery  of  that  boundless  wilderness, 
and  plant  the  Catholic  faith  and  the  power  of 
France  amid  its  ancient  barbarism. 

Five  years  before,  he  had  explored  the  St.  Law- 
rence as  far  as  the  rapids  above  Montreal.  On  its 
banks,  as  he  thought,  was  the  true  site  for  a  settle- 
ment, —  a  fortified  post,  whence,  as  from  a  secure 
basis,  the  waters  of  the  vast  interior  might  be 
traced  back  towards  their  sources,  and  a  western 
route  discovered  to  China  and  Japan.  For  the 
fur-trade,  too,  the  innumerable  streams  that  de- 
scended to  the  great  river  might  all  be  closed 
against  foreign  intrusion  by  a  single  fort  at  some 
commanding  point,  and  made  tributary  to  a  rich 
and  permanent  commerce  ;  while  —  and  this  was 
nearer  to  his  heart,  for  he  had  often  been  heard  to 
say  that  the  saving  of  a  soul  was  worth  more 
than  the  conquest  of  an  empire  —  countless  savage 

1  See  the  patent  in  Champlain,  (1613,)  163. 


326  CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC.  [1608. 

tribes,  in  the  bondage  of  Satan,  might  by  the  same 
avenues  be  reached  and  redeemed. 

De  Monts  embraced  his  views ;  and,  fitting  out 
two  ships,  gave  command  of  one  to  the  elder 
Pontgrave,  of  the  other  to  Champlain.  The  for- 
mer was  to  trade  with  the  Indians  and  bring  back 
the  cargo  of  furs  which,  it  was  hoped,  would  meet 
the  expense  of  the  voyage.  To  Champlain  fell  the 
harder  task  of  settlement  and  exploration. 

Pontgrave,  laden  with  goods  fox  the  Indian 
trade  of  Tadoussac,  sailed  from  Honfleur  on  the 
fifth  of  April,  1608.  Champlain,  with  men,  arms, 
and  stores  for  the  colony,  followed,  eight  days 
later.  On  the  fifteenth  of  May  he  was  on  the 
Grand  Bank ;  on  the  thirtieth  he  passed  Gaspe, 
and  on  the  third  of  June  neared  Tadoussac.  No 
living  thing  was  to  be  seen.  He  anchored,  lowered 
a  boat,  and  rowed  into  the  port,  round  the  rocky 
point  at  the  southeast,  then,  from  the  fury  of  its 
winds  and  currents,  called  La  Pointe  de  Tous  les 
Diables.-^  There  was  life  enough  within,  and  more 
than  he  cared  to  find.  In  the  still  anchorage 
under  the  cliffs  lay  Pontgrave's  vessel,  and  at  her 
side  another  ship,  which  proved  to  be  a  Basque 
fur-trader. 

Pontgrave,  arriving  a  few  days  before,  had  found 
himself  anticipated  by  the  Basques,  who  were 
busied  in  a  brisk  trade  with  bands  of  Indians 
cabined  along  the  borders  of  the  cove.  He  dis- 
played the  royal  letters,  and  commanded  a  cessa- 

1  Champlain,  (1613,)  166.  Also  called  La  Pointe  aux  Kochers.  Ibid., 
(1632,)  119. 


i608.]  TADOUSSAC.  327 

tion  of  the  prohibited  traffic;  but  the  Basques 
proved  refractory,  declared  that  they  would  trade 
in  spite  of  the  King,  fired  on  Pontgrave  with 
cannon  and  musketry,  wounded  him  and  two  of 
his  men,  and  killed  a  third.  They  then  boarded 
his  vessel,  and  carried  away  all  his  cannon,  small 
arms,  and  ammunition,  saying  that  they  would 
restore  them  when  they  had  finished  their  trade 
and  were  ready  to  return  home. 

Champlain  found  his  comrade  on  shore,  in  a  dis- 
abled condition.  The  Basques,  though  still  strong 
enough  to  make  fight,  were  alarmed  for  the  con- 
sequences of  their  conduct,  and  anxious  to  come  to 
terms.  A  peace,  therefore,  was  signed  on  board 
their  vessel ;  all  differences  were  referred  to  the 
judgment  of  the  French  courts,  harmony  was  re- 
stored, and  the  choleric  strangers  betook  them- 
selves to   catching  whales. 

This  port  of  Tadoussac  was  long  the  centre  of 
the  Canadian  fur-trade.  A  desolation  of  barren 
mountains  closes  round  it,  betwixt  whose  ribs  of 
rugged  granite,  bristling  with  savins,  birches,  and 
firs,  the  Saguenay  rolls  its  gloomy  waters  from  the 
northern  wilderness.  Centuries  of  civilization  have 
not  tamed  the  wildness  of  the  place ;  and  still, 
in  grim  repose,  the  mountains  hold  their  guard 
around  the  waveless  lake  that  glistens  in  their 
shadow,  and  doubles,  in  its  sullen  mirror,  crag, 
precipice,  and  forest. 

Near  the  brink  of  the  cove  or  harbor  where  the 
vessels  lay,  and  a  little  below  the  mouth  of  a  brook 
which  formed  one  of  the  outlets  of  this  small  lake, 


328  CHAMPLAIN  AT   QUEBEC.  [1608. 

stood  the  remains  of  the  wooden  barrack  built  by 
Chauvin  eight  years  before.  Above  the  brook 
were  the  lodges  of  an  Indian  camp,^  —  stacks  of 
poles  covered  with  birch-bark.  They  belonged  to 
an  Algonquin  horde,  called  Montagnais,  denizens 
of  surrounding  wilds,  and  gatherers  of  their  only 
harvest,  —  skins  of  the  moose,  caribou,  and  bear ; 
fur  of  the  beaver,  marten,  otter,  fox,  wild-cat,  and 
lynx.  Nor  was  this  all,  for  they  were  inter- 
mediate traders  betwixt  the  French  and  the  shiver- 
ing bands  who  roamed  the  weary  stretch  of  stunted 
forest  between  the  head-waters  of  the  Saguenay 
and  Hudson's  Bay.  Indefatigable  canoe-men,  in 
their  birchen  vessels,  light  as  egg-shells,  they 
threaded  the  devious  tracks  of  countless  rippling 
streams,  shady  by-ways  of  the  forest,  where  the 
wild  duck  scarcely  finds  depth  to  swim ;  then 
descended  to  their  mart  along  those  scenes  of 
picturesque  yet  dreary  grandeur  which  steam  has 
made  familiar  to  modern  tourists.  With  slowly 
moving  paddles,  they  glided  beneath  the  cliff  whose 
shaggy  brows  frown  across  the  zenith,  and  whose 
base  the  deep  waves  wash  with  a  hoarse  and  hol- 
low cadence ;  and  they  passed  the  sepulchral  Bay 
of  the  Trinity,  dark  as  the  tide  of  Acheron,  —  a 
sanctuary  of  solitude  and  silence  :  depths  which, 
as  the  fable  runs,  no  sounding  line  can  fathom, 
and  heights  at  whose  dizzy  verge  the  wheeling 
eagle  seems  a  speck  .^ 

1  Plan  du  Port  de  Tadoussac,  Champlain,  (1613,)  172. 

2  Bouchette  estimates  the  height  of  these  cliffs  at  eighteen  hundred 
feet.  They  overhang  the  river  and  bay.  The  scene  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  on  the  continent. 


1608.J  QUEBEC.  329 

Peace  being  established  with  the  Basques,  and 
the  wounded  Pontgrave  busied,  as  far  as  might  be, 
in  transferring  to  the  hold  of  his  ship  the  rich 
lading  of  the  Indian  canoes,  Champlain  spread  his 
sails,  and  again  held  his  course  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence. Far  to  the  south,  in  sun  and  shadow, 
slumbered  the  woody  mountains  whence  fell  the 
countless  springs  of  the  St.  John,  behind  tenantless 
shores,  now  white  with  glimmering  villages,  —  La 
Chenaie,  Granville,  Kamouraska,  St.  Roche,  St. 
Jean,  Vincelot,  Berthier.  But  on  the  north  the 
jealous  wilderness  still  asserts  its  sway,  crowding 
to  the  river's  verge  its  walls,  domes,  and  towers  of 
granite ;  and  to  this  hour,  its  solitude  is  scarcely 
broken. 

Above  the  point  of  the  Island  of  Orleans,  a  con- 
striction of  the  vast  channel  narrows  it  to  less  than 
a  mile,  with  the  green  heights  of  Point  Levi  on 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  the  cliffs  of  Quebec.^ 
Here,  a  small  stream,  the  St.  Charles,  enters  the 

1  The  origin  of  this  name  has  been  disputed,  but  there  is  no  good 
ground  to  doubt  its  Indian  origin,  which  is  distinctly  affirmed  by  Cham- 
plain  and  Lescarbot.  Charlevoix,  Pastes  Vhronologiques  (1608),  derives  it 
from  the  Algonquin  word  Quebeio,  or  Quellbec,  signifying  a  narrowintj  or 
contracting  (ri'tre'cissement).  A  half-breed  Algonquin  told  Garneau  that  the 
word  Quebec,  or  Oiiabec,  means  a  strait.  The  same  -writer  was  told  by 
M.  Male,  a  missionary  among  the  Micmacs,  a  branch  of  the  Algonquins, 
that  in  their  dialect  the  word  Kibec  had  the  same  meaning.  Martin  says, 
"  Les  Algonquins  I'appellent  Ouabec,  et  les  Micmacs  Kebhpte,  c'est  a  dire, 
'la  oil  la  riviere  est  ferme'e.'"  Martin's  Bressani,  App.,  326.  The  deriva- 
tions given  by  La  Potherie,  Le  Beau,  and  others,  are  purely  fanciful.  The 
circumstance  of  the  word  Quebec  being  found  engraved  on  the  ancient  sea], 
of  Lord  Suffolk  (see  Hawkins,  Picture  of  Quebec)  can  only  be  regarded  as 
a  curious  coincidence.  In  Cartier's  times  the  site  of  Quebec  was  occupied 
by  a  tribe  of  the  Iroquois  race,  who  called  their  village  Stadacon€.  The 
Hurons  called  it,  says  Sagard,  Atou-ta-requee.  In  the  modern  Huron 
dialect,  Tiatou-ta-riti  means  the  narrows. 


330  CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC.  [1608. 

St.  Lawrence,  and  in  the  angle  betwixt  them  rises 
the  promontory,  on  two  sides  a  natural  fortress. 
Between  the  cliffs  and  the  river  lay  a  strand  cov- 
ered with  walnuts  and  other  trees.  From  this 
strand,  by  a  rough  passage  gullied  downward  from 
the  place  where  Prescott  Gate  now  guards  the  way, 
one  might  climb  the  heights  to  the  broken  plateau 
above,  now  burdened  with  its  ponderous  load  of 
churches,  convents,  dwellings,  ramparts,  and  bat- 
teries. Thence,  by  a  gradual  ascent,  the  rock 
sloped  upward  to  its  highest  summit.  Cape  Dia- 
mond,^ looking  down  on  the  St.  Lawrence  from 
a  he-ight  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Here 
the  citadel  now  stands ;  then  the  fierce  sun 
fell  on  the  bald,  baking  rock,  with  its  crisped 
mosses  and  parched  lichens.  Two  centuries  and 
a  half  have  quickened  the  solitude  with  swarm- 
ing life,  covered  the  deep  bosom  of  the  river  with 
barge  and  steamer  and  gliding  sail,  and  reared 
cities  and  villages  on  the  site  of  forests ;  but 
nothing  can  destroy  the  surpassing  grandeur  of 
the  scene. 

On  the  strand  between  the  water  and  the  cliffs 
Champlain's  axemen  fell  to  their  work.  They 
were  pioneers  of  an  advancing  host,  —  advancing, 
it  is  true,  with  feeble  and  uncertain  progress : 
priests,  soldiers,  peasants,  feudal  scutcheons,  royal 
insignia.  Not  the  Middle  Age,  but  engendered  of 
it  by  the  stronger  life  of  modern  centralization ; 

1  Champlain  calls  Cape  Diamond  Mont  du  Gas  ^Guast),  from  the 
family  name  of  De  Monts.  He  gives  the  name  of  Cape  Diamond  to 
Pointe  k  Puiseaux.    See  Map  of  Quebec  (16 13). 


160S.1  CONSPIRACY.  331 

sharply  stamped  with  a  parental  likeness ;  heir  to 
parental  weakness  and  parental  force. 

In  a  few  weeks  a  pile  of  wooden  buildings  rose 
on  the  brink  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  on  or  near  the 
site  of  the  market-place  of  the  Lower  Town  of 
Quebec.^  The  pencil  of  Champlain,  always  regard- 
less of  proportion  and  perspective,  has  preserved 
its  likeness.  A  strong  wooden  wall,  surmounted 
by  a  gallery  loopholed  for  musketry,  enclosed  three 
buildings,  containing  quarters  for  himself  and  his 
men,  together  with  a  courtyard,  from  one  side  of 
which  rose  a  tall  dove-cot,  like  a  belfry.  A  moat 
surrounded  the  whole,  and  two  or  three  vsmall  can- 
non were  planted  on  salient  platforms  towards  the 
river.  There  was  a  large  storehouse  near  at  hand, 
and  a  part  of  the  adjacent  ground  was  laid  out  as 
a  garden. 

In  this  garden  Champlain  was  one  morning 
directing  his  laborers,  when  Tetu,  his  pilot,  ap- 
proached him  with  an  anxious  countenance,  and 
muttered  a  request  to  speak  with  him  in  private. 
Champlain  assenting,  they  withdrew  to  the  neigh- 
boring woods,  when  the  pilot  disburdened  himself 
of  his  secret.  One  Antoine  Natel,  a  locksmith, 
smitten  by  conscience  or  fear,  had  revealed  to  him 
a  conspiracy  to  murder  his  commander  and  de- 
liver Quebec  into  the  hands  of  the  Basques  and 
Spaniards  then  at  Tadoussac.  Another  locksmith, 
named  Duval,  was  author  of  the  plot,  and,  with 
the  aid  of  three  accomplices,  had  befooled  or  fright- 
ened nearly  all  the  company  into  taking  part  in  it. 

1  Compare  Faribault,  Voyages  de  D^couverte  au  Canada,  105. 


332  CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC.  [1608. 

Eacli  was  assured  that  he  should  make  his  fortune, 
and  all  were  mutually  pledged  to  poniard  the  first 
betrayer  of  the  secret.  The  critical  point  of  their 
enterprise  was  the  killing  of  Champlain.  Some 
were  for  strangling  him,  some  for  raising  a  false 
alarm  in  the  night  and  shooting  him  as  he  came 
out  from  his  quarters. 

Having  heard  the  pilot's  story,  Champlain,  re- 
maining in  the  woods,  desired  his  informant  to 
find  Antoine  Natel,  and  bring  him  to  the  spot. 
Natel  soon  appeared,  trembling  with  excitement 
and  fear,  and  a  close  examination  left  no  doubt  of 
the  truth  of  his  statement.  A  small  vessel,  built 
by  Pontgrave  at  Tadoussac,  had  lately  arrived,  and 
orders  were  now  given  that  it  should  anchor  close 
at  hand.  On  board  was  a  young  man  in  whom 
confidence  could  be  placed.  Champlain  sent  him 
two  bottles  of  wine,  with  a  direction  to  tell  the  four 
ringleaders  that  they  had  been  given  him  by  his 
Basque  friends  at  Tadoussac,  and  to  invite  them  to 
share  the  good  cheer.  They  came  aboard  in  the 
evening,  and  were  seized  and  secured.  "  Voyla  done 
mes  galants  bien  estonnez,"  writes  Champlain. 

It  was  ten  o'clock,  and  most  of  the  men  on  shore 
were  asleep.  They  were  wakened  suddenly,  and 
told  of  the  discovery  of  the  plot  and  the  arrest  of 
the  ringleaders.  Pardon  was  then  promised  them, 
and  they  were  dismissed  again  to  their  beds,  greatly 
relieved,  for  they  had  lived  in  trepidation,  each 
fearing  the  other.  Duval's  body,  swinging  from  a 
gibbet,  gave  wholesome  warning  to  those  he  had 
seduced;   and  his  head  was  displayed  on  a  pike. 


I60S.J  THE  MONTAGNAIS.  333 

from  the  highest  roof  of  the  buildings,  food  for 
birds,  and  a  lesson  to  sedition.  His  three  accom- 
plices were  carried  by  Pontgrave  to  France,  where 
they  made  their  atonement  in  the  galleys.^ 

It  was  on  the  eighteenth  of  September  that  Pont- 
grave set  sail,  leaving  Champlain  with  twenty-eight 
men  to  hold  Quebec  through  the  winter.  Three 
weeks  later,  and  shores  and  hills  glowed  with  gay 
prognostics  of  approaching  desolation,  —  the  yellow 
and  scarlet  of  the  maples,  the  deep  purple  of  the 
ash,  the  garnet  hue  of  young  oaks,  the  cnmson  of 
the  tupelo  at  the  water's  edge,  and  the  golden 
plumage  of  birch  saplings  in  the  fissures  of  the 
cliff.  It  was  a  short-lived  beauty.  The  forest 
dropped  its  festal  robes.  Shrivelled  and  faded, 
they  rustled  to  the  earth.  The  crystal  air  and 
laughing  sun  of  October  passed  away,  and  No- 
vember sank  upon  the  shivering  waste,  chill  and 
sombre  as  the  tomb. 

A  roving  band  of  Montagnais  had  built  their 
huts  near  the  buildings,  and  were  busying  them- 
selves with  their  autumn  eel-fishery,  on  which 
they  greatly  relied  to  sustain  their  miserable  lives 
through  the  winter.  Their  slimy  harvest  being 
gathered,  and  duly  smoked  and  dried,  they  gave  it 
for  safe-keeping  to  Champlain,  and  set  out  to  hunt 
beavers.  It  was  deep  in  the  winter  before  they 
came  back,  reclaimed  their  eels,  built  their  birch 
cabins  again,  and  disposed  themselves  for  a  life  of 
ease,  until  famine  or  their  enemies  should  put  an 
end  to  their  enjoyments.    These  were  by  no  means 

1  Lescarbot,  (1612),  623;  Purchas,  IV.  1642. 


334  CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC.  [1608. 

without  alloy.  While,  gorged  with  food,  they  lay 
dozing  on  piles  of  branches  in  their  smoky  huts, 
where,  through  the  crevices  of  the  thin  birch-bark, 
streamed  in  a  cold  capable  at  times  of  congealing 
mercury,  their  slumbers  were  beset  with  nightmare 
visions  of  Iroquois  forays,  scalpings,  butcherings, 
and  burnings.  As  dreams  were  their  oracles,  the 
camp  was  wild  with  fright.  They  sent  out  no 
scouts  and  placed  no  guard ;  but,  with  each  repe- 
tition of  these  nocturnal  terrors,  they  came  flock- 
ing in  a  body  to  beg  admission  within  the  fort. 
The  women  and  children  were  allowed  to  enter 
the  yard  and  remain  during  the  night,  while  anx- 
ious fathers  and  jealous  husbands  shivered  in  the 
darkness  without. 

On  one  occasion,  a  group  of  wretched  beings  was 
seen  on  the  farther  bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  like 
wild  animals  driven  by  famine  to  the  borders  of 
the  settler's  clearing.  The  river  was  full  of  drift- 
ing ice,  and  there  was  no  crossing  without  risk  of 
life.  The  Indians,  in  their  desperation,  made  the 
attempt ;  and  midway  their  canoes  were  ground  to 
atoms  among  the  tossing  masses.  Agile  as  wild- 
cats, they  all  leaped  upon  a  huge  raft  of  ice,  the 
squaws  carrying  their  children  on  their  shoulders, 
a  feat  at  which  Champlain  marvelled  when  he  saw 
their  starved  and  emaciated  condition.  Here  they 
began  a  wail  of  despair ;  when  happily  the  pressure 
of  other  masses  thrust  the  sheet  of  ice  against  the 
northern  shore.  They  landed  and  soon  made  their 
appearance  at  the  fort,  worn  to  skeletons  and  hor- 
rible to  look  upon.     The  French  gave  them  food. 


1«09.]  WINTER  AT  QUEBEC.  335 

which  they  devoured  with  a  frenzied  avidity,  and, 
unappeased,  fell  upon  a  dead  dog  left  on  the  snow 
by  Champlain  for  two  months  past  as  a  bait  for 
foxes.  They  broke  this  carrion  into  fragments, 
and  thawed  and  devoured  it,  to  the  disgust  of  the 
spectators,  who  tried  vainly  to  prevent  them. 

This  was  but  a  severe  access  of  the  periodical 
famine  which,  during  winter,  was  a  normal  condi- 
tion of  the  Algonquin  tribes  of  Acadia  and  the 
Lower  St.  Lawrence,  who,  unlike  the  cognate  tribes 
of  New  England,  never  tilled  the  soil,  or  made  any 
reasonable  provision  against  the  time  of  need. 

One  would  gladly  know  how  the  founders  of 
Quebec  spent  the  long  hours  of  their  first  winter ; 
but  on  this  point  the  only  man  among  them,  per- 
haps, who  could  write,  has  not  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  enlarge.  He  himself  beguiled  his  leisure 
with  trapping  foxes,  or  hanging  a  dead  dog  from 
a  tree  and  watching  the  hungry  martens  in  their 
efforts  to  reach  it.  Towards  the  close  of  winter, 
all  found  abundant  employment  in  nursing  them- 
selves or- their  neighbors,  for  the  inevitable  scurvy 
broke  out  with  virulence.  At  the  middle  of  May, 
only  eight  men  of  the  twenty-eight  were  alive, 
and  of  these  half  were  suffering  from  disease.^ 

This  wintry  purgatory  wore  away ;  the  icy  sta- 
lactites that  hung  from  the  cliffs  fell  crashing  to 
the  earth  ;  the  clamor  of  the  wild  geese  was  heard  ; 
the  bluebirds  appeared  in  the  naked  woods ;  the 
water-willows  were  covered  with  their  soft  cat- 
erpillar-like  blossoms ;   the  twigs  of   the  swamp- 

1  Champlain,  (1613,)  205. 


336  CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC.  [1609. 

maple  were  flushed  with  ruddy  bloom ;  the  ash 
hung  out  its  black  tufts ;  the  shad-bush  seemed  a 
wreath  of  snow ;  the  white  stars  of  the  bloodroot 
gleamed  among  dank,  fallen  leaves ;  and  in  the 
young  grass  of  the  wet  meadows,  the  marsh-mari- 
golds shone  like  spots  of  gold. 

Great  was  the  joy  of  Champlain  when,  on  the 
fifth  of  June,  he  saw  a  sailboat  rounding  the  Point 
of  Orleans,  betokening  that  the  spring  had  brought 
with  it  the  longed  for  succors.  A  son-in-law  of 
Pontgrave,  named  Marais,  was  on  board,  and  he 
reported  that  Pontgrave  was  then  at  Tadoussac, 
where  he  had  lately  arrived.  Thither  Champlain 
hastened,  to  take  counsel  with  his  comrade.  His 
constitution  or  his  courage  had  defied  the  scurvy. 
They  met,  and  it  was  determined  betwixt  them, 
that,  while  Pontgrave  remained  in  charge  of  Que- 
bec, Champlain  should  enter  at  once  on  his  long- 
meditated  explorations,  by  which,  like  La  Salle 
seventy  years  later,  he  had  good  hope  of  finding  a 
way  to  China. 

But  there  was  a  lion  in  the  path.  The  Indian 
tribes,  to  whom  peace  was  unknown,  infested  with 
their  scalping  parties  the  streams  and  pathways 
of  the  forest,  and  increased  tenfold  its  inseparable 
risks.  The  after  career  of  Champlain  gives  abun- 
dant proof  that  he  was  more  than  indifferent  to  all 
such  chances ;  yet  now  an  expedient  for  evading 
them  offered  itself,  so  consonant  with  his  instincts 
that  he  was  glad  to  accept  it. 

During  the  last  autumn,  a  young  chief  from  the 
banks  of  the  then  unknown  Ottawa  had  been  at 


1609.]  THE  IROQUOIS.  337 

Quebec ;  and,  amazed  at  what  he  saw,  he  had 
begged  Champlain  to  join  him  in  the  spring 
against  his  enemies.  These  enemies  were  a  for- 
midable race  of  savages,  the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Con- 
federate Nations,  who  dwelt  in  fortified  villages 
within  limits  now  embraced  by  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  who  were  a  terror  to  all  the  surround- 
ing forests.  They  were  deadly  foes  of  their  kin- 
dred, the  Hurons,  who  dwelt  on  the  lake  which 
bears  their  name,  and  were  allies  of  Algonquin 
bands  on  the  Ottawa.  All  alike  were  tillers  of 
the  soil,  living  at  ease  when  compared  with  the 
famished  Algonquins  of  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence. 

By  joining  these  Hurons  and  Algonquins  against 
their  Iroquois  enemies,  Champlain  might  make 
himself  the  indispensable  ally  and  leader  of  the 
tribes  of  Canada,  and  at  the  same  time  fight  his 
way  to  discovery  in  regions  which  otherwise  were 
barred  against  him.  From  first  to  last,  it  was  the 
policy  of  France  in  America  to  mingle  in  Indian 
politics,  hold  the  balance  of  power  between  adverse 
tribes,  and  envelop  in  the  network  of  her  power 
and  diplomacy  the  remotest  hordes  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Of  this  policy  the  Father  of  New  France 
may  perhaps  be  held  to  have  set  a  rash  and  pre- 
mature example.  Yet,  while  he  was  apparently 
following    the   dictates   of    his   own   adventurous 

1  The  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi,  between  the  latitudes  of  Lake  Su- 
perior and  of  the  Ohio,  were  divided,  with  slight  exceptions,  into  two  groups 
or  families,  distinguished  by  a  radical  difference  of  language.  One  of 
these  families  of  tribes  is  called  Algonquin,  from  the  name  of  a  small  In- 
dian community  on  the  Ottawa.  The  other  is  called  the  Huron-Iroquois , 
from  the  names  of  its  two  principal  members. 

22 


338  CHAMPLAIN  AT  QUEBEC.  [1609. 

spirit,  it  became  evident,  a  few  years  later,  that 
under  liis  thirst  for  discovery  and  spirit  of  knight- 
errantry  lay  a  consistent  and  deliberate  purpose. 
That  it  had  already  assumed  a  definite  shape  is 
not  likely;  but  his  after  course  makes  it  plain 
that,  in  embroiling  himself  and  his  colony  with 
the  most  formidable  savages  on  the  continent,  he 
was  by  no  means  acting  so  recklessly  as  at  first 
sight  would  appear. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1609. 

LAKE  CHAMPLAIN. 

Champlain  joins  a  War  Party.  —  Preparation.  —  Departure. 

The  River  Richelieu.  —  The  Spirits  consulted.  —  Discovert 
OF  Lake  Champlain.  —  Battle  with  the  Iroquois. — Fate  of 
Prisoners.  —  Panic  of  the  Victors. 

It  was  past  the  middle  of  June,  and  the  ex- 
pected warriors  from  the  upper  country  had  not 
come :  a  delay  which  seems  to  have  given  Cham- 
plain little  concern,  for,  Without  waiting  longer, 
he  set  out  with  no  better  allies  than  a  band  of 
Montagnais.  But,  as  he  moved  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence, he  saw,  thickly  clustered  in  the  bordering 
forest,  the  lodges  of  an  Indian  camp,  and,  landing, 
found  his  Huron  and  Algonquin  allies.  Few  of 
them  had  ever  seen  a  white  man,  and  they  sur- 
rounded the  steel-clad  strangers  in  speechless  won- 
der. Champlain  asked  for  their  chief,  and  the 
staring  throng  moved  with  him  towards  a  lodge 
where  sat,  not  one  chief,  but  two,  for  each  band 
had  its  own.  There  were  feasting,  smoking,  and 
speeches ;  and,  the  needful  ceremony  over,  all  de- 
scended together  to  Quebec ;  for  the  strangers 
were  bent  on  seeing  those  wonders  of  architec- 
ture, the  fame  of  which  had  pierced  the  recesses 
of  their  forests. 


340  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  [1609. 

On  their  arrival,  they  feasted  their  eyes  and 
glutted  their  appetites ;  yelped  consternation  at 
the  sharp  explosions  of  the  arquebuse  and  the  roar 
of  the  cannon ;  pitched  their  camps,  and  bedecked 
themselves  for  their  war-dance.  In  the  still  night, 
their  fire  glared  against  the  black  and  jagged  cliff, 
and  the  fierce  red  light  fell  on  tawny  limbs  con- 
vulsed with  frenzied  gestures  and  ferocious  stamp- 
ings ;  on  contorted  visages,  hideous  with  paint ; 
on  brandished  weapons,  stone  war-clubs,  stone 
hatchets,  and  stone-pointed  lances ;  while  the 
drum  kept  up  its  hollow  boom,  and  the  air  was 
split  with  mingled  yells. 

The  war-feast  followed,  and  then  all  embarked 
together.  Champlain  was  in  a  small  shallop, 
carrying  besides  himself,  eleven  men  of  Pont- 
grave's  party,  including  his  son-in-law,  Marais, 
and  the  pilot  La  Routte.  They  were  armed  with 
the  arquebuse,  a  matchlock  or  firelock  somewhat 
like  the  modern  carbine,  and  from  its  short- 
ness not  ill  suited  for  use  in  the  forest.  On 
the  twenty-eighth  of  June^  they  spread  their 
sails  and  held  their  course  against  the  current, 
while  around  them  the  river  was  alive  with  ca- 
noes, and  hundreds  of  naked  arms  plied  the 
paddle  with  a  steady,  measured  sweep.  They 
crossed  the  Lake  of  St.  Peter,  threaded  the 
devious  channels  among  its  many  islands,  and 
reached  at  last  the  mouth  of  the  Riviere  des 
Iroquois,  since   called   the   Richelieu,   or  the   St. 

^  Champlain's  dates,  in  this  part  of  his  narrative,  are  exceedingly  care- 
less and  confused,  May  and  June  being  mixed  indiscriminately. 


1609.]  THE  RIVER  RICHELIEU.  341 

Jolm.^  Here,  probably  on  the  site  of  the  town 
of  Sorel,  the  leisurely  warriors  encamped  for  two 
days,  hunted,  fished,  and  took  their  ease,  regaling 
their  allies  with  venison  and  wild-fowl.  They 
quarrelled,  too ;  three  fourths  of  their  number 
seceded,  took  to  their  canoes  in  dudgeon,  and  pad- 
dled towards  their  homes,  while  the  rest  pursued 
their  course  up  the  broad  and  placid  stream. 

Walls  of  verdure  stretched  on  left  and  right. 
Now,  aloft  in  the  lonely  air  rose  the  cliffs  of 
Beloeil,  and  now,  before  them,  framed  in  circling 
forests,  the  Basin  of  Chambly  spread  its  tranquil 
mirror,  glittering  in  the  sun.  The  shallop  out- 
sailed the  canoes.  Champlain,  leaving  his  allies 
behind,  crossed  the  basin  and  tried  to  pursue  his 
course ;  but,  as  he  listened  in  the  stillness,  the 
unwelcome  noise  of  rapids  reached  his  ear,  and, 
by  glimpses  through  the  dark  foliage  of  the  Islets 
of  St.  John,  he  could  see  the  gleam  of  snowy  foam 
and  the  flash  of  hurrying  waters.  Leaving  the 
boat  by  the  shore  in  charge  of  four  men,  he  went 
with  Marais,  La  Routte,  and  five  others,  to  explore 
the  wild  before  him.  They  pushed  their  way 
through  the  damps  and  shadows  of  the  wood, 
through  thickets  and  tangled  vines,  over  mossy 
rocks  and  mouldering  logs.  Still  the  hoarse  sur- 
ging of  the  rapids  followed  them ;  and  when,  part- 
ing the  screen  of  foliage,  they  looked  out  upon  the 
river,  they  saw  it  thick  set  with  rocks,  where, 
plunging  over  ledges,  gurgling  under  drift-logs, 
darting  along  clefts,  and  boiling  in  chasms,  the 

1  Also  called  the  Chambly,  the  St,  Louis,  and  the  Sorel. 


342  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  [1609 

angry  waters  filled  the  solitude  with  monotonous 
ravings.^ 

Champlain  retraced  his  steps.  He  had  learned 
the  value  of  an  Indian's  word.  His  allies  had 
promised  him  that  his  boat  could  pass  unob- 
structed throughout  the  whole  journey.  "  It 
afflicted  me,"  he  says,  "  and  troubled  me  exceed- 
ingly to  be  obliged  to  return  without  having  seen 
so  great  a  lake,  full  of  fair  islands  and  bordered 
with  the  fine  countries  which  they  had  described 
to  me." 

When  he  reached  the  boat,  he  found  the  whole 
savage  crew  gathered  at  the  spot.  He  mildly 
rebuked  their  bad  faith,  but  added,  that,  though 
they  had  deceived  him,  he,  as  far  as  might  be, 
would  fulfil  his  pledge.  To  this  end,  he  directed 
Marais,.with  the  boat  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
men,  to  return  to  Quebec,  while  he,  with  two  who 
offered  to  follow  him,  should  proceed  in  the  Indian 
canoes. 

The  warriors  lifted  their  canoes  from  the  water, 
and  bore  them  on  their  shoulders  half  a  league 
through  the  forest  to  the  smoother  stream  above. 
Here  the  chiefs  made  a  muster  of  their  forces, 
counting  twenty-four  canoes  and  sixty  warriors. 
All  embarked  again,  and  advanced  once  more,  by 
marsh,  meadow,  forest,  and  scattered  islands,  then 
full  of  game,  for  it  was  an  uninhabited  land,  the 
war-path  and  battle-ground  of  hostile  tribes.  The 
warriors  observed  a  certain  system  in  their  ad- 

J  In  spite  of  the  changes  of  civilization,  the  tourist,  with  Champlain'fl 
journal  in  his  hand,  can  easily  trace  each  stage  of  his  progress. 


1609.]  THE  WAK  PAKTY.  343 

vance.  Some  were  in  front  as  a  vanguard ;  others 
formed  the  main  body ;  while  an  equal  number 
were  in  the  forests  on  the  flanks  and  rear,  hunting 
for  the  subsistence  of  the  whole ;  for,  though  they 
had  a  provision  of  parched  maize  pounded  into 
meal,  they  kept  it  for  use  when,  from  the  vicinity 
of  the  enemy,  hunting  should  become  impossible. 

Late  in  the  day  they  landed  and  drew  up  their 
canoes,  ranging  them  closely,  side  by  side.  Some 
stripped  sheets  of  bark,  to  cover  their  camp  sheds ; 
others  gathered  wood,  the  forest  being  full  of  dead, 
dry  trees ;  others  felled  the  living  trees,  for  a 
barricade.  They  seem  to  have  had  steel  axes, 
obtained  by  barter  from  the  French ;  for  in  less 
than  two  hours  they  had  made  a  strong  defensive 
work,  in  the  form  of  a  half-circle,  open  on  the 
river  side,  where  their  canoes  lay  on  the  strand, 
and  large  enough  to  enclose  all  their  huts  and 
sheds.^  Some  of  their  number  had  gone  forward 
as  scouts,  and,  returning,  reported  no  signs  of  an 
enemy.  This  was  the  extent  of  their  precaution, 
for  they  placed  no  guard,  but  all,  in  full  security, 
stretched  themselves  to  sleep,  —  a  vicious  custom 
from  which  the  lazy  warrior  of  the  forest  rarely 
departs. 

They  had  not  forgotten,  however,  to  consult 
their  oracle.     The  medicine-man  pitched  his  magic 

^  Such  extempore  works  of  defence  are  still  used  among  some  tribes 
of  the  remote  West.  The  author  has  twice  seen  them,  made  of  trees 
piled  together  as  described  by  Champlain,  probably  by  war  parties  of  the 
Crow  or  Snake  Indians. 

Champlain,  usually  too  concise,  is  very  minute  in  his  descriptiou  of  the 
march  and  encampment. 


344  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  [1609. 

lodge  in  the  woods,  formed  of  a  small  stack  of  poles, 
planted  in  a  circle  and  brought  together  at  the 
tops  like  stacked  muskets.  Over  these  he  placed 
the  filthy  deer-skins  which  served  him  for  a  robe, 
and,  creeping  in  at  a  narrow  opening,  hid  himself 
from  view.  Crouched  in  a  ball  upon  the  earth, 
tie  invoked  the  spirits  in  mumbling  inarticulate 
tones ;  while  his  naked  auditory,  squatted  on  the 
ground  like  apes,  listened  in  wonder  and  awe. 
Suddenly,  the  lodge  moved,  rocking  with  violence 
to  and  fro,  by  the  power  of  the  spirits,  as  the 
Indians  thought,  while  Champlain  could  plainly 
see  the  tawny  fist  of  the  medicine-man  shaking 
the  poles.  They  begged  him  to  keep  a  watchful 
eye  on  the  peak  of  the  lodge,  whence  fire  and 
smoke  would  presently  issue ;  but  with  the  best 
efforts  of  his  vision,  he  discovered  none.  Mean- 
while the  medicine-man  was  seized  with  such  con- 
vulsions, that,  when  his  divination  was  over,  his 
naked  body  streamed  with  perspiration.  In  loud, 
clear  tones,  and  in  an  unknown  tongue,  he  invoked 
the  spirit,  who  was  understood  to  be  present  in 
the  form  of  a  stone,  and  whose  feeble  and  squeak- 
ing accents  were  heard  at  intervals,  like  the  wail 
of  a  young  puppy.-' 

In  this  manner  they  consulted  the  spirit  —  as 

^  This  mode  of  divination  vras  universal  among  the  Algonquin  tribes, 
and  is  not  extinct  to  this  daj-  among  their  roving  Northern  bands.  Le 
Jeune,  Lafitau,  and  other  early  Jesuit  writers,  describe  it  with  great  mi- 
nuteness. The  former  (Relation,  1634)  speaks  of  an  audacious  conjurer, 
who,  having  invoked  the  Manitou,  or  spirit,  killed  hira  with  a  hatchet. 
To  all  appearance  he  was  a  stone,  which,  however,  when  struck  with  the 
hatchet,  proved  to  be  full  of  flesh  and  blood.  A  kindred  superstition  pre- 
vails among  the  Crow  Indians. 


1609.]  FIRST  SIGHT  OF  THE  LAKE.  345 

Champlain  thinks,  the  Devil  —  at  all  their  camps. 
His  replies,  for  the  most  part,  seem  to  have  given 
them  great  content ;  yet  they  took  other  measures, 
of  which  the  military  advantages  were  less  ques- 
tionable. The  principal  chief  gathered  bundles  of 
sticks,  and,  without  wasting  his  breath,  stuck 
them  in  the  earth  in  a  certain  order,  calling  each 
by  the  name  of  some  warrior,  a  few  taller  than 
the  rest  representing  the  subordinate  chiefs.  Thus 
was  indicated  the  position  which  each  was  to  hold 
in  the  expected  battle.  All  gathered  round  and 
attentively  studied  the  sticks,  ranged  like  a  child's 
wooden  soldiers,  or  the  pieces  on  a  chessboard ; 
then,  with  no  further  instruction,  they  formed 
their  ranks,  broke  them,  and  reformed  them  again 
and  again  with  excellent  alacrity  and  skill. 

Again  the  canoes  advanced,  the  river  widening 
as  they  went.  Great  islands  appeared,  leagues  in 
extent,  —  Isle  a  la  Motte,  Long  Island,  Grande  Isle. 
Channels  where  ships  might  float  and  broad  reaches 
of  water  stretched  between  them,  and  Champlain 
entered  the  lake  which  preserves  his  name  to  pos- 
terity. Cumberland  Head  was  passed,  and  from 
the  opening  of  the  great  channel  between  Grande 
Isle  and  the  main  he  could  look  forth  on  the  wil- 
derness sea.  Edged  with  woods,  the  tranquil  flood 
spread  southward  beyond  the  sight.  Far  on  the 
left  rose  the  forest  ridges  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tains, and  on  the  right  the  Adirondacks,  haunts 
in  these  later  years  of  amateur  sportsmen  from 
counting-rooms  or  college  halls.  Then  the  Iro- 
quois made  them  their  hunting-ground;   and  be- 


346  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  [1609. 

yond,  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mohawk,  the  Onondaga, 
and  the  Genesee,  stretched  the  long  line  of  their 
five  cantons  and  palisaded  towns. 

At  night  they  encamped  again.  The  scene  is 
a  familiar  one  to  many  a  tourist ;  and  perhaps, 
standing  at  sunset  on  the  peaceful  strand,  Cham- 
plain  saw  what  a  roving  student  of  this  generation 
has  seen  on  those  same  shores,  at  that  same  hour : 
the  glow  of  the  vanished  sun  behind  the  western 
mountains,  darkly  piled  in  mist  and  shadow  along 
the  sky ;  near  at  hand,  the  dead  pine,  mighty  in 
decay,  stretching  its  ragged  arms  athwart  the  burn- 
ing heaven,  the  crow  perched  on  its  top  like  an 
image  carved  in  jet ;  and  aloft,  the  nighthawk, 
circling  in  his  flight,  and,  with  a  strange  whirring 
sound,  diving  through  the  air  each  moment  for  the 
insects  he  makes  his  prey. 

Tlie  progress  of  the  party  was  becoming  danger- 
ous. They  changed  their  mode  of  advance,  and 
moved  only  in  the  night.  All  day,  they  lay  close 
in  the  depth  of  the  forest,  sleeping,  lounging,  smok- 
ing tobacco  of  their  own  raising,  and  beguiling  the 
hours,  no  doubt,  with  the  shallow  banter  and  ob- 
scene jesting  with  which  knots  of  Indians  are  wont- 
to  amuse  their  leisure.  At  twilight  they  embarked 
again,  paddling  their  cautious  way  till  the  eastern 
sky  began  to  redden.  Their  goal  was  the  rocky 
promontory  where  Fort  Ticonderoga  was  long  af- 
terward built.  Thence,  they  would  pass  the  outlet 
of  Lake  George,  and  launch  their  canoes  again  on 
that  Como  of  the  wilderness,  whose  waters,  limpid 
as  a  fountain-head,  stretched   far  southward  be- 


1609.]  PROGNOSTICS.  347 

tween  their  flanking  mountains.  Landing  at  the 
future  site  of  Fort  William  Henry,  they  would 
carry  their  canoes  through  the  forest  to  the  river 
Hudson,  and,  descending  it,  attack  perhaps  some 
outlying  town  of  the  Mohawks.  In  the  next  cen- 
tury this  chain  of  lakes  and  rivers  became  the 
grand  highway  of  savage  and  civilized  war,  linked 
to  memories  of  momentous  conflicts. 

The  allies  were  spared  so  long  a  progress.  On 
the  morning  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  July,  after 
paddling  all  night,  they  hid  as  usual  in  the  forest 
on  the  western  shore,  apparently  between  Crown 
Point  and  Ticonderoga.  The  warriors  stretched 
themselves  to  their  slumbers,  and  Champlain,  after 
walking  till  nine  or  ten  o'clock  through  the  sur- 
rounding woods,  returned  to  take  his  repose  on  a 
pile  of  spruce-boughs.  Sleeping,  he  dreamed  a 
dream,  wherein  he  beheld  the  Iroquois  drowning 
in  the  lake ;  and,  trying  to  rescue  them,  he  was 
told  by  his  Algonquin  friends  that  they  were  good 
for  nothing,  and  had  better  be  left  to  their  fate. 
For  some  time  past  he  had  been  beset  every  morn- 
ing by  his  superstitious  allies,  eager  to  learn  about 
his  dreams ;  and,  to  this  moment,  his  unbroken 
slumbers  had  failed  to  furnish  the  desired  prognos- 
tics. The  announcement  of  this  auspicious  vision 
filled  the  crowd  with  joy,  and  at  nightfall  they 
embarked,  flushed  with  anticipated  victories.-^ 

1  The  power  of  dreams  among  Indians  in  their  primitive  condition  can 
scarcely  be  over-estimated.  Among  the  ancient  Hurons  and  cognate  tribes, 
they  were  the  universal  authority  and  oracle  ;  but  while  a  dreamer  of  repu-' 
tation  had  unlimited  power,  the  dream  of  a  vaurien  was  held  in  no  account. 
There  were  professed  interpreters  of  dreams.    Brebeufj  Rel.  des  Hurons, 


348  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  [1609. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when,  near 
a  projecting  point  of  land,  which  was  probably 
Ticonderoga,  they  descried  dark  objects  in  motion 
on  the  lake  before  them.  These  were  a  flotilla  of 
Iroquois  canoes,  heavier  and  slower  than  theirs,  for 
they  were  made  of  oak  bark.^  Each  party  saw  the 
other,  and  the  mingled  war-cries  pealed  over  the 
darkened  water.  The  Iroquois,  who  were  near 
the  shore,  having  no  stomach  for  an  aquatic  bat- 
tle, landed,  and,  making  night  hideous  with  their 
clamors,  began  to  barricade  themselves.  Cham- 
plain  could  see  them  in  the  woods,  laboring  like 
beavers,  hacking  down  trees  with  iron  axes  taken 
from  the  Canadian  tribes  in  war,  and  with  stone 
hatchets  of  their  own  making.  The  allies  re- 
mained on  the  lake,  a  bowshot  from  the  hostile 
barricade,  their  canoes  made  fast  together  by  poles 
lashed  across.  All  night  they  danced  with  as  much 
vigor  as  the  frailty  of  their  vessels  would  permit, 
their  throats  making  amends  for  the  enforced  re- 
straint of  their  limbs.  It  was  agreed  on  both  sides 
that  the  fight  should  be  deferred  till  daybreak  ; 

117.  A  man,  dreaming  that  he  had  killed  bis  wife,  made  it  an  excuse  for 
killing  her  in  fact.  All  these  tribes,  including  the  Iroquois,  had  a  stated 
game  called  Ononhara,  or  the  dreaming  game,  in  which  dreams  were  made 
the  pretext  for  the  wildest  extravagances.  See  Lafitau,  Charlevoix,  Sagard, 
Brebeuf,  etc. 

1  Champlain,  (1613,)  232.  Probably  a  mistake;  the  Iroquois  canoes 
were  usually  of  elm  bark.  The  paper-birch  was  used  wherever  it  could  be 
had,  being  incomparably  the  be.st  material.  All  the  tribes,  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Saco  nortlnvard  and  eastward,  and  along  the  entire  northern  portion 
of  the  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes,  used  the  birch. 
The  best  substitutes  were  elm  and  spruce.  The  birch  bark,  from  its  lami- 
nated texture,  could  be  peeled  at  any  time ;  the  others  only  when  the  sap 
was  in  motion. 


1609.]  ENCOUNTEE  WITH  THE  IROQUOIS.  349 

but  meanwhile  a  commerce  of  abuse,  sarcasm,  men- 
ace, and  boasting  gave  unceasing  exercise  to  the 
lungs  and  fancy  of  the  combatants,  — "  much," 
says  Ghamplain,  "  like  the  besiegers  and  besieged 
in  a  beleaguered  town." 

As  day  approached,  he  and  his  two  followers  put 
on  the  light  armor  of  the  time.  Ghamplain  wore 
the  doublet  and  long  hose  then  in  vogue.  Over 
the  doublet  he  buckled  on  a  breastplate,  and  prob- 
ably a  back-piece,  while  his  thighs  were  protected 
by  cuisses  of  steel,  and  his  head  by  a  plumed 
casque.  Across  his  shoulder  hung  the  strap  of 
his  bandoleer,  or  ammunition-box ;  at  his  side  was 
his  sword,  and  in  his  hand  his  arquebuse.^  Such 
was  the  equipment  of  this  ancient  Indian-fighter, 
whose  exploits  date  eleven  years  before  the  land- 
ing of  the  Puritans  at  Plymouth,  and  sixty-six 
years  before  King  Philip's  War. 

Each  of  the  three  Frenchmen  was  in  a  separate 
canoe,  and,  as  it  grew  light,  they  kept  themselves 
hidden,  either  by  lying  at  the  bottom,  or  covering 
themselves  with  an  Indian  robe.  The  canoes  ap- 
proached the  shore,  and  all  landed  without  opposi- 
tion at  some  distance  from  the  Iroquois,  whom 
they  presently  could  see  filing  out  of  their  barri- 
cade, tall,  strong  men,  some  two  hundred  in  num- 
ber, the  boldest  and  fiercest  warriors  of  North 
America.  They  advanced  through  the  forest  with 
a  steadiness  which  excited  the  admiration  of  Cham- 

1  Ghamplain,  in  his  rude  drawing  of  the  battle,  (ed.  1613,)  portrays 
himself  and  his  equipment  with  sufficient  distinctness.  Compare  plates 
of  the  weapons  and  armor  of  the  period  in  Meyrick,  Ancient  Armor,  and 
Susane,  Histoire  de  I'Ancienne  Infanterie  Fran^aise. 


350  LAKE   CHAMPLAIN.  [1609. 

plain.  Among  them  could  be  seen  three  chiefs, 
made  conspicuous  by  their  tall  plumes.  Some  bore 
shields  of  wood  and  hide,  and  some  were  covered 
with  a  kind  of  armor  made  of  tough  twigs  inter- 
laced with  a  vegetable  fibre  supposed  by  Champlain 
to  be  cotton.-^ 

The  allies,  growing  anxious,  called  with  loud 
cries  for  their  champion,  and  opened  their  ranks 
that  he  might  pass  to  the  front.  He  did  so,  and, 
advancing  before  his  red  companions  in  arms,  stood 
revealed  to  the  gaze  of  the  Iroquois,  who,  behold- 
ing the  warlike  apparition  in  their  path,  stared  in 
mute  amazement.  "I  looked  at  them,"  says  Cham- 
plain,  "  and  they  looked  at  me.  When  I  saw  them 
getting  ready  to  shoot  their  arrows  at  us,  I  levelled 
my  arquebuse,  which  I  had  loaded  with  four  balls, 
and  aimed  straight  at  one  of  the  three  chiefs.  The 
shot  brought  down  two,  and  wounded  another.  On 
this,  our  Indians  set  up  such  a  yelling  that  one  could 
not  have  heard  a  thunder-clap,  and  all  the  while 
the  arrows  flew  thick  on  both  sides.  The  Iroquois 
were  greatly  astonished  and  frightened  to  see  two 
of  their  men  killed  so  quickly,  in  spite  of  their 
arrow-proof  armor.  As  I  was  reloading,  one  of 
my  companions  fired  a  shot  from  the  woods,  which 
so  increased  their  astonishment  that,  seeing  their 
chiefs  dead,  they  abandoned  the  field  and  fled  into 

1  According  to  Lafitau,  both  bucklers  and  breastplates  were  in  frequent 
use  among  the  Iroquois.  The  former  were  very  large  and  made  of  cedar 
wood  covered  with  interwoven  thongs  of  hide.  The  kindred  nation  of  the 
Hurons,  says  Sagard  (  Voyage  des  Hurons,  126-206),  carried  large  shields, 
and  wore  greaves  for  the  legs  and  cuirasses  made  of  twigs  interwoven 
with  cords.  His  account  corresponds  with  that  of  Champlain,  who  gives 
a  wood-cut  of  a  warrior  thus  armed. 


1609.]  TORTUEE.  351 

the  depth  of  the  forest."  The  alUes  dashed  after 
them.  Some  of  the  Iroquois  were  killed,  and  more 
were  taken.  Camp,  canoes,  provisions,  all  were 
abandoned,  and  many  weapons  flung  down  in  the 
panic  flight.     The  victory  was  complete. 

At  night,  the  victors  led  out  one  of  the  prisoners, 
told  him  that  he  was  to  die  by  fire,  and  ordered 
him  to  sing  his  death-song,  if  he  dared.  Then  they 
began  the  torture,  and  presently  scalped  their  vic- 
tim alive,^  when  Champlain,  sickening  at  the  sight, 
begged  leave  to  shoot  him.  They  refused,  and  he 
turned  away  in  anger  and  disgust ;  on  which  they 
called  him  back  and  told  him  to  do  as  he  pleased. 
He  turned  again  and  a  shot  from  his  arquebuse  put 
the  wretch  out  of  misery. 

The  scene  filled  him  with  horror ;  but,  a  few 
months  later,  on  the  Place  de  la  Greve  at  Paris, 
he  might  have  witnessed  tortures  equally  revolt- 
ing and  equally  vindictive,  inflicted  on  the  regicide 
Ravaillac  by  the  sentence  of  grave  and  learned 
judges. 

The  allies  made  a  prompt  retreat  from  the  scene 
of  their  triumph.  Three  or  four  days  brought 
them  to  the  mouth  of  the  Richelieu.  Here  they 
separated ;  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  made  for 

1  It  has  been  erroneously  asserted  that  the  practice  of  scalping  did  not 
prevail  among  the  Indians  before  the  advent  of  Europeans.  In  1535, 
Cartier  saw  five  scalps  at  Quebec,  dried  and  stretched  on  hoops.  In 
1564,  Laudonniere  saw  them  among  the  Indians  of  Florida.  The  Algon- 
quins of  New  England  and  Nova  Scotia  were  accustomed  to  cut  off  and 
carry  away  the  head,  which  they  afterwards  scalped.  Those  of  Canada,  it 
seems,  sometimes  scalped  dead  bodies  on  the  field.  The  Algonquin 
practice  of  carrying  off  heads  as  trophies  is  mentioned  by  Lalemant, 
Roger  Williams,  Lescarbot,  and  Champlain.  Compare  Historical  Maga- 
zine, First  Series,  V.  253. 


352  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN.  [1609. 

the  Ottawa,  their  homeward  route,  each  with  a 
share  of  prisoners  for  future  torments.  At  parting 
they  invited  Champlain  to  visit  their  towns,  and 
aid  them  again  in  their  wars,  an  invitation  which 
this  paladin  of  the  woods  failed  not  to  accept. 

The  companions  now  remaining  to  him  were  the 
Montagnais.  In  their  camp  on  the  Richelieu,  one 
of  them  dreamed  that  a  war  party  of  Iroquois  was 
close  upon  them ;  on  which,  in  a  torrent  of  rain, 
they  left  their  huts,  paddled  in  dismay  to  the 
islands  above  the  Lake  of  St.  Peter,  and  hid  them- 
selves all  night  in  the  rushes.  In  the  morning, 
they  took  heart,  emerged  from  their  hiding-places, 
descended  to  Quebec,  and  went  thence  to  Tadous- 
sac,  whither  Champlain  accompanied  them.  Here 
the  squaws,  stark  naked,  swam  out  to  the  canoes 
to  receive  the  heads  of  the  dead  Iroquois,  and, 
hanging  them  from  their  necks,  danced  in  tri- 
umph along  the  shore.  One  of  the  heads  and  a 
pair  of  arms  were  then  bestowed  on  Champlain,  — 
touching  memorials  of  gratitude,  which,  however, 
he  was  by  no  means  to  keep  for  himself,  but  to 
present  to  the  King. 

Thus  did  New  France  rush  into  collision  with  the 
redoubted  warriors  of  the  Five  Nations.  Here  was 
the  beginning,  and  in  some  measure  doubtless  the 
cause,  of  a  long  suite  of  murderous  conflicts,  bear- 
ing havoc  and  flame  to  generations  3^et  unborn. 
Champlain  had  invaded  the  tiger's  den ;  and  now, 
in  smothered  fury,  the  patient  savage  would  lie 
biding  his  day  of  blood. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1610-1612. 

WAR.  —  TRADE.  —  DISCOVERY. 

Champlain  at  Fontainebleau.  —  Champlain  on  the  St.  Lawrence. 
—  Alarm.  —  Battle.  —  War  Parties.  —  Icebergs.  —  Adventur- 
ers.—  Champlain   at  Montreal.  —  Return   to   France.  —  The 

COMTE   DE    SOISSONS.  —  ThE   PrINCE    I)E    ConDE. 

Champlain  and  Pontgrave  returned  to  France, 
while  Pierre  Cliauvin  of  Dieppe  held  Quebec  in 
their  absence.  The  King  was  at  Fontainebleau, 
—  it  was  a  few  months  before  his  assassination,  — 
and  here  Champlain  recounted  his  adventures,  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  the  lively  monarch.  He 
gave  him  also,  not  the  head  of  the  dead  Iroquois, 
but  a  belt  wrought  in  embroidery  of  dyed  quills  of 
the  Canada  porcupine,  together  with  two  small 
birds  of  scarlet  plumage,  and  the  skull  of  a  gar- 
fish. 

De  Monts  was  at  court,  striving  for  a  renewal 
of  his  monopoly.  His  efforts  failed ;  on  which, 
with  great  spirit  but  little  discretion,  he  resolved 
to  push  his  enterprise  without  it.  Early  in  the 
spring  of  1610,  the  ship  was  ready,  and  Champlain 
and  Pontgrave  were  on  board,  when  a  violent  ill- 
ness seized  the  former,  reducing  him  to  the  most 
miserable  of  all  conflicts,  the  battle  of  the  eager 
spirit  against  the  treacherous  and   failing   flesh. 

23 


354  WAR.  — TRADE.  — DISCO  VEEY.  [1610. 

Having  partially  recovered,  lie  put  to  sea,  giddy 
and  weak,  in  wretched  plight  for  the  hard  career 
of  toil  and  battle  which  the  New  World  offered 
him.  The  voyage  was  prosperous,  no  other  mis- 
hap occurring  than  that  of  an  ardent  youth  of 
St.  Malo,  who  drank  the  health  of  Pontgrave  with 
such  persistent  enthusiasm  that  he  fell  overboard 
and  was  drowned. 

There  were  ships  at  Tadoussac,  fast  loading  with 
furs;  and  boats,  too,  higher  up  the  river,  antici- 
pating the  trade,  and  draining  De  Monts's  re- 
sources in  advance.  Champlain,  who  was  left  free 
to  fight  and  explore  wherever  he  should  see  fit, 
had  provided,  to  use  his  own  phrase,  "  two  strings 
to  his  bow."  On  the  one  hand,  the  Mohtagnais 
had  promised  to  guide  him  northward  to  Hudson's 
Bay ;  on  the  other,  the  Hurons  were  to  show  him 
the  Great  Lakes,  with  the  mines  of  copper  on  their 
shores ;  and  to  each  the  same  reward  was  prom- 
ised,—  to  join  them  against  the  common  foe,  the 
Iroquois.  The  rendezvous  was  at  the  mouth  of 
the  River  Richelieu.  Thither  the  Hurons  were  to 
descend  in  force,  together  with  Algonquins  of  the 
Ottawa ;  and  thither  Champlain  now  repaired, 
while  around  his  boat  swarmed  a  multitude  of 
Montagnais  canoes,  filled  with  warriors  whose  lank 
hair  streamed  loose  in  the  wind. 

There  is  an  island  in  the  St.  Lawrence  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Richelieu.  On  the  nineteenth  of 
June,  it  was  swarming  with  busy  and  clamorous 
savages,  Champlain' s  Montagnais  allies,  cutting 
down  the  trees  and   clearing   the   ground   for  a 


1610.J  ALARM.  355 

dance  and  a  feast ;  for  they  were  hourly  expect- 
ing the  Algonquin  warriors,  and  were  eager  to 
welcome  them  with  befitting  honors.  But  sud- 
denly, far  out  on  the  river,  they  saw  an  advancing 
canoe.  Now  on  this  side,  now  on  that,  the  flash- 
ing paddles  urged  it  forward  as  if  death  were  on 
its  track ;  and  as  it  drew  near,  the  Indians  on 
board  cried  out  that  the  Algonquins  were  in  the 
forest,  a  league  distant,  engaged  with  a  hundred 
warriors  of  the  Iroquois,  who,  outnumbered,  were 
fighting  savagely  within  a  barricade  of  trees. 

The  air  was  split  with  shrill  outcries.  The 
Montagnais  snatched  their  weapons,  —  shields, 
bows,  arrows,  war-clubs,  sword-blades  made  fast 
to  poles,  —  and  ran  "headlong  to  their  canoes,  im- 
peding each  other  in  their  haste,  screeching  to 
Champlain  to  follow,  and  invoking  with  no  less 
vehemence  the  aid  of  certain  fur-traders,  just  ar- 
rived in  four  boats  from  below.  These,  as  it  was 
not  their  cue  to  fight,  lent  them  a  deaf  ear;  on 
which,  in  disgust  and  scorn,  they  paddled  off,  call- 
ing to  the  recusants  that  they  were  women,  fit  for 
nothing  but  to  make  war  on  beaver-skins. 

Champlain  and  four  of  his  men  were  in  the 
canoes.  They  shot  across  the  intervening  water, 
and,  as  their  prows  grated  on  the  pebbles,  each 
warrior  flung  down  his  paddle,  snatched  his  weap- 
ons, and  ran  into  the  woods.  The  five  Frenchmen 
followed,  striving  vainly  to  keep  pace  with  the 
naked,  light-limbed  rabble,  bounding  like  shadows 
through  the  forest.  They  quickly  disappeared. 
Even  their  shrill  cries  grew  faint,  till  Champlain 


356  WAR.  — TRADE.  — DISCOVERY.  [1610. 

and  his  men,  discomforted  and  vexed,  found  them- 
selves deserted  in  the  midst  of  a  swamp.  The  day 
was  sultry,  the  forest  air  heavy,  close,  and  filled 
with  hosts  of  mosquitoes,  ''  so  thick,"  says  the 
chief  sufferer,  "  that  we  could  scarcely  draw 
hreath,  and  it  was  wonderful  how  cruelly  they 
persecuted  us."  ^  Through  black  mud,  spongy 
moss,  water  knee-deep,  over  fallen  trees,  among 
slimy  logs  and  entangling  roots,  tripped  by  vines, 
lashed  by  recoiling  boughs,  panting  under  their 
steel  head-pieces  and  heavy  corselets,  the  French- 
men struggled  on,  bewildered  and  indignant.  At 
length  they  descried  two  Indians  running  in  the 
distance,  and  shouted  to  them  in  desperation,  that, 
if  they  wanted  their  aid,  they  must  guide  them  to 
the  enemy. 

At  length  they  could  hear  the  yells  of  the  com- 
batants ;  there  was  light  in  the  forest  before  them, 
and  they  issued  into  a  partial  clearing  made  by 
the  Iroquois  axemen  near  the  river.  Champlain 
saw  their  barricade.  Trees  were  piled  into  a  cir- 
cular breastwork,  trunks,  boughs,  and  matted  foli- 
age forming  a  strong  defence,  within  which  the 
Iroquois  stood  savagely  at  bay.  Around  them 
flocked  the  allies,  half  hidden  in  the  edges  of  the 
forest,  like  hounds  around  a  wild  boar,  eager, 
clamorous,  yet  afraid  to  rush  in.  They  had  at- 
tacked, and  had  met  a  bloody  rebuff.  All  their 
hope  was  now  in  the  French  ;  and  when  they  saw 

^  ".  .  .  .  quantite  de  mousquites,  qni  estoient  si  espoisses  qu'elles  ne 
nous  permettoient  point  presque  de  reprendre  nostre  halaine,  tant  ellea 
nous  perse'cutoient,  et  si  cruellement  que  c'estoit  chose  estrange."  Cham- 
plain,  (1613,)  250. 


1610.]  BATTLE.  — VICTORY.  357 

them,  a  yell  arose  from  hundreds  of  throats  that 
outdid  the  wilderness  voices  whence  its  tones  were 
borrowed,  —  the  whoop  of  the  horned  owl,  the 
scream  of  the  cougar,  the  howl  of  starved  wolves 
on  a  winter  night.  A  fierce  response  pealed  from 
the  desperate  band  within ;  and  amid  a  storm  of 
arrows  from  both  sides,  the  Frenchmen  threw 
themselves  into  the  fray,  firing  at  random  through 
the  fence  of  trunks,  boughs,  and  drooping  leaves, 
with  which  the  Iroquois  had  encircled  themselves. 
Champlain  felt  a  stone-headed  arrow  splitting  his 
ear  and  tearing  through  the  muscles  of  his  neck. 
He  drew  it  out,  and,  the  moment  after,  did  a  simi- 
lar office  for  one  of  his  men.  But  the  Iroquois 
had  not  recovered  from  their  first  terror  at  the 
arquebuse ;  and  when  the  mysterious  and  terrible 
assailants,  clad  m  steel  and  armed  with  thunder- 
bolts, ran  up  to  the  barricade,  thrust  their  pieces 
through  the  openings,  and  shot  death  among  the 
crowd  within,  they  could  not  control  their  fright, 
but  with  every  report  threw  themselves  flat  on  the 
ground.  Animated  with  unwonted  valor,  the  allies, 
covered  by  their  large  shields,  began  to  drag  out 
the  felled  trees  of  the  barricade,  while  others,  un- 
der Champlain's  direction,  gathered  at  the  edge  of 
the  forest,  preparing  to  close  the  affair  with  a  final 
rush.  New  actors  soon  appeared  on  the  scene. 
These  were  a  boat's  crew  of  the  fur-traders  under 
a  young  man  of  St.  Malo,  one  Des  Prairies,  who, 
when  he  heard  the  firing,  could  not  resist  the  im- 
pulse to  join  the  fight.  On  seeing  them,  Cham- 
plain  checked  the  assault,  in  order,  as  he  says,  that 


358  WAR.  — TRADE.  — DISCOVERY.  [1610. 

the  new-comers  might  have  their  share  in  the 
sport.  The  traders  opened  fire,  with  great  zest 
and  no  less  execution ;  while  the  Iroquois,  now 
wild  with  terror,  leaped  and  writhed  to  dodge  the 
shot  which  tore  through  their  frail  armor  of  twigs. 
Champlain  gave  the  signal ;  the  crowd  ran  to  the 
barricade,  dragged  down  the  boughs  or  clambered 
over  them,  and  bore  themselves,  in  his  own  words, 
*'so  well  and  manfully,"  that,  though  scratched 
and  torn  by  the  sharp  points,  they  quickly  forced 
an  entrance.  The  French  ceased  their  fire,  and, 
followed  by  a  smaller  body  of  Indians,  scaled  the 
barricade  on  the  farther  side.  Now,  amid  bowl- 
ings, shouts,  and  screeches,  the  work  was  finished. 
Some  of  the  Iroquois  were  cut  down  as  they  stood, 
hewing  with  their  war-clubs,  and  foaming  like 
slaughtered  tigers ;  some  climbed  the  barrier  and 
were  killed  by  the  furious  crowd  without;  some 
were  drowned  in  the  river ;  while  fifteen,  the  only 
survivors,  were  made  prisoners.  "By  the  grace 
of  God,"  writes  Champlain,  "behold  the  battle 
won!"  Drunk  with  ferocious  ecstasy,  the  con- 
querors scalped  the  dead  and  gathered  fagots  for 
the  living,  while  some  of  the  fur-traders,  too  late 
to  bear  part  in  the  fight,  robbed  the  carcasses  of 
their  blood-bedrenched  robes  of  beaver-skin,  amid 
the  derision  of  the  surrounding  Indians.^ 

That  night,  the  torture  fires  blazed  along  the 
shore.  Champlain  saved  one  prisoner  from  their 
clutches,  but  nothing  could  save  the  rest.      One 

1  Champlain,  (1613,)  254.  This  narrative,  like  most  others,  is  much 
abridged  in  the  edition  of  1632. 


1610.]  A  SAVAGE  CONCOURSE.  359 

body  was  quartered  and  eaten. -^  '^  As  for  the  rest 
of  the  prisoners,"  says  Cham  plain,  "  they  were  kept 
CO  be  put  to  death  by  the  women  and  girls,  who  in 
this  respect  are  no  less  inhuman  than  the  men,  and, 
indeed,  much  more  so ;  for  by  their  subtlety  they 
invent  more  cruel  tortures,  and  take  pleasure  in  it." 

On  the  next  day,  a  large  band  of  Hurons  ap- 
peared at  the  rendezvous,  greatly  vexed  that  they 
had  come  too  late.  The  shores  were  thickly 
studded  with  Indian  huts,  and  the  woods  were 
full  of  them.  Here  were  warriors  of  three  des- 
ignations, including  many  subordinate  tribes,  and 
representing  three  grades  of  savage  society :  the 
Hurons,  the  Algonquins  of  the  Ottawa,  and  the 
Montagnais ;  afterwards  styled  by  a  Franciscan 
friar,  than  whom  few  men  better  knew  them,  the 
nobles,  the  burghers,  and  the  peasantry  and  pau- 
pers of  the  forest.^  Many  of  them,  from  the  re- 
mote interior,  had  never  before  seen  a  white  man ; 
and,  wrapped  like  statues  in  their  robes,  they  stood 
gazing  on  the  French  with  a  fixed  stare  of  wild 
and  wondering  eyes. 

Judged  by  the  standard  of  Indian  war,  a  heavy 
blow   had   been   struck   on   the   common   enemy. 

1  Traces  of  cannibalism  may  be  found  among  most  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican tribes,  though  they  are  rarely  very  conspicuous.  Sometimes  the  prac- 
tice arose,  as  in  the  present  instance,  from  revenge  or  ferocity ;  sometimes 
it  bore  a  religious  character,  as  with  the  Miamis,  among  whom  there  ex- 
isted a  secret  religious  fraternity  of  man-eaters ;  sometimes  the  heart  of  a 
brave  enemy  was  devoured  in  the  idea  that  it  made  the  eater  brave.  This 
last  practice  was  common.  The  ferocious  threat,  used  in  speaking  of  an 
enemy,  "  I  will  eat  his  heart,"  is  by  no  means  a  mere  figure  of  speech. 
The  roving  hunter-tribes,  in  their  winter  wanderings,  were  not  infre- 
quently impelled  to  canibalism  by  famine. 

2  Sagard,  Voyage  des  Hurons,  184. 


360  WAR.  — TRADE.  — DISCOVERY.  [1610. 

Here  were  hundreds  of  assembled  warriors ;  yet 
none  thought  of  following  up  their  success.  Elated 
with  unexpected  fortune,  they  danced  and  sang ; 
then  loaded  their  canoes,  hung  their  scalps  on 
poles,  broke  up  their  camps,  and  set  out  trium- 
phant for  their  homes.  Champlain  had  fought 
their  battles,  and  now  might  claim,  on  their  part, 
guidance  and  escort  to  the  distant  interior.  Why 
he  did  not  do  so  is  scarcely  apparent.  There  were 
cares,  it  seems,  connected  with  the  very  life  of  his 
puny  colony,  which  demanded  his  return  to  France. 
Nor  were  his  anxieties  lessened  by  the  arrival  of  a 
ship  from  his  native  town  of  Brouage,  with  tidings 
of  the  King's  assassination.  Here  was  a  death- 
blow to  all  that  had  remained  of  De  Monts's  credit 
at  court ;  while  that  unfortunate  nobleman,  like 
his  old  associate,  Poutrincourt,  was  moving  with 
swift  strides  toward  financial  ruin.  With  the  rev- 
ocation of  his  monopoly,  fur-traders  had  swarmed 
to  the  St.  Lawrence.  Tadoussac  was  full  of  them, 
and  for  that  year  the  trade  was  spoiled.  Far  from 
aiding  to  support  a  burdensome  enterprise  of  colo- 
nization, it  was  in  itself  an  occasion  of  heavy  loss. 

Champlain  bade  farewell  to  his  garden  at  Que- 
bec, where  maize,  wheat,  rye,  and  barley,  with 
vegetables  of  all  kinds,  and  a  small  vineyard  of 
native  grapes,  —  for  he  was  a  zealous  horticultu- 
rist,^ —  held  forth  a  promise  which  he  was  not  to 
see  fulfilled.  He  left  one  Du  Pare  in  command, 
with  sixteen  men,  and,  sailing  on  the  eighth  of 

1  During  the  next  year,  he  planted  roses  around  Quebec.  Champlain, 
(1613,J  313. 


1611.]  mVAL  TRADERS.  361 

August,  arrived  at  Honfleur  with  no  worse  acci- 
dent than  that  of  running  over  a  sleeping  whale 
near  the  Grand  Bank. 

With  the  opening  spring  he  was  afloat  again. 
Perils  awaited  him  worse  than  those  of  Iroquois 
tomahawks;  for,  approaching  Newfoundland,  the 
ship  was  entangled  for  days  among  drifting  fields 
and  bergs  of  ice.  Escaping  at  length,  she  arrived 
at  Tadoussae  on  the  thirteenth  of  May,  1611.  She 
had  anticipated  the  spring.  Forests  and  moun- 
tains, far  and  near,  all  were  white  with  snow.  A 
principal  object  with  Champlain  was  to  establish 
such  relations  with  the  great  Indian  communities 
of  the  interior  as  to  secure  to  De  Monts  and  his 
associates  the  advantage  of  trade  with  them ;  and 
to  this  end  he  now  repaired  to  Montreal,  a  position 
in  the  gateway,  as  it  were,  of  their  yearly  descents 
of  trade  or  war.  On  arriving,  he  began  to  survey 
the  ground  for  the  site  of  a  permanent  post. 

A  few  days  convinced  him,  that,  under  the  pres- 
ent system,  all  his  efforts  would  be  vain.  Wild 
reports  of  the  wonders  of  New  France  had  gone 
abroad,  and  a  crowd  of  hungry  adventurers  had 
hastened  to  the  land  of  promise,  eager  to  grow 
rich,  they  scarcely  knew  how,  and  soon  to  return 
disgusted.  A  fleet  of  boats  and  small  vessels  fol- 
lowed in  Champlain's  wake.  Within  a  few  days, 
thirteen  of  them  arrived  at  Montreal,  and  more 
soon  appeared.  He  was  to  break  the  ground ; 
others  would  reap  the  harvest.  Travel,  discovery, 
and  battle,  all  must  inure  to  the  profit,  not  of  the 
colony,  but  of  a  crew  of  greedy  traders. 


3G2  WAR.  — TRADE.  — DISCOVERY.  [1611. 

Champlain,  however,  chose  the  site  and  cleared 
the  ground  for  his  intended  post.  It  was  immedi- 
ately above  a  small  stream,  now  running  under 
arches  of  masonry,  and  entering  the  St.  Lawrence 
at  Point  Callieres,  within  the  modern  city.  He 
called  it  Place  Royale ;  ^  and  here,  on  the  margin 
of  the  river,  he  built  a  wall  of  bricks  made  on  the 
spot,  in  order  to  measure  the  destructive  effects  of 
the  "ice-shove"  in  the  spring. 

Now,  down  the  surges  of  St.  Louis,  where  the 
mighty  floods  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  contracted  to  a 
narrow  throat,  roll  in  fury  among  their  sunken 
rocks,  —  here,  through  foam  and  spray  and  the 
roar  of  the  angry  torrent,  a  fleet  of  birch  canoes 
came  dancing  like  dry  leaves  on  the  froth  of  some 
riotous  brook.  They  bore  a  band  of  Hurons,  first 
at  the  rendezvous.  As  they  drew  near  the  land- 
ing, all  the  fur-traders'  boats  blazed  out  a  clat- 
tering fusillade,  which  was  designed  to  bid  them 
welcome,  but  in  fact  terrified  many  of  them  to 
such  a  degree  that  they  scarcely  dared  to  come 
ashore.  Nor  were  they  reassured  by  the  bearing 
of  the  disorderly  crowd,  who,  in  jealous  competi- 
tion for  their  beaver-skins,  left  them  not  a  mo- 
ment's peace,  and  outraged  all  their  notions  of 
decorum.  More  soon  appeared,  till  hundreds  of 
warriors  were  encamped  along  the  shore,  all  rest- 
less, suspicious,  and  alarmed.  Late  one  night,  they 
awakened  Champlain.  On  going  with  them  to 
their  camp,  he  found  chiefs  and  warriors  in  sol- 

1  The  mountain  being  Mont  Royal  (Montreal).    The  Hospital  of  the 
Gray  Nuns  was  built  on  a  portion  of  Champlain's  Place  Royale. 


1611.]  INTERVIEW  WITH  DE  MONTS.  363 

emn  conclave  around  the  glimmering  firelight. 
Though  they  were  fearful  of  the  rest,  their  trust 
in  him  was  boundless.  "  Come  to  our  country, 
buy  our  beaver,  build  a  fort,  teach  us  the  true 
faith,  do  what  you  will,  but  do  not  bring  this 
crowd  with  you."  The  idea  had  seized  them  that 
these  lawless  bands  of  rival  traders,  all  well  armed, 
meant  to  plunder,  and  kill  them.  Champlain  as- 
sured them  of  safety,  and  the  whole  night  was 
consumed  in  friendly  colloquy.  Soon  afterward, 
however,  the  camp  broke  up,  and  the  uneasy  war- 
riors removed  to  the  borders  of  the  Lake  of  St. 
Louis,  placing  the  rapids  betwixt  themselves  and 
the  objects  of  their  alarm.  Here  Champlain  vis- 
ited them,  and  hence  these  intrepid  canoe-men, 
kneeling  in  their  birchen  egg-shells,  carried  him 
homeward  down  the  rapids,  somewhat,  as  he  ad- 
mits, to  the  discomposure  of  his  nerves.^ 

The  great  gathering  dispersed  :  the  traders  de- 
scended to  Tadoussac,  and  Champlain  to  Quebec ; 
while  the  Indians  went,  some  to  their  homes, 
some  to  fight  the  Iroquois.  A  few  months  later, 
.  Champlain  was  in  close  conference  with  De  Monts, 
at  Pons,  a  place  near  Rochelle,  of  which  the  latter 
was  governor.  The  last  two  years  had  made  it 
apparent  that,  to  keep  the  colony  alive  and  main- 
tain a  basis   for  those  discoveries  on  which  his 


1  The  first  white  man  to  descend  the  rapids  of  St.  Louis  was  a  youth 
named  Louis,  who,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1611,  went  with  two  Indians  to 
shoot  herons  on  an  island,  and  was  drowned  on  the  way  down ;  the 
second  was  a  young  man  who  in  the  summer  before  had  gone  with  the 
Hurons  to  their  country,  and  who  returned  with  them  on  the  13th  of  June; 
the  third  was  Champlain  himself. 


364  WAR.— TRADE.  — DISCOVERY.  [1612. 

heart  was  bent,  was  impossible  without  a  change 
of  system.  De  Monts,  engrossed  with  the  cares 
of  his  government,  placed  all  in  the  hands  of  his 
associate,  and  Champlain,  fully  empowered  to  act 
as  he  should  judge  expedient,  set  out  for  Paris. 
On  the  way,  Fortune,  at  one  stroke,  wellnigh 
crushed  him  and  New  France  together;  for  his 
horse  fell  on  him,  and  he  narrowly  escaped  with 
life.  When  he  was  partially  recovered,  he  re- 
sumed his  journey,  pondering  on  means  of  rescue 
for  the  fading  colony.  A  powerful  protector  must 
be  had,  —  a  great  name  to  shield  the  enterprise 
from  assaults  and  intrigues  of  jealous  rival  in- 
terests. On  reaching  Paris  he  addressed  himself 
to  a  prince  of  the  blood,  Charles  de  Bourbon, 
Comte  de  Soissons ;  described  New  France,  its  re- 
sources, and  its  boundless  extent,  urged  the  need 
of  unfolding  a  mystery  pregnant  perhaps  with  re- 
sults of  the  deepest  moment,  laid  before  him  maps 
and  memoirs,  and  begged  him  to  become  the  guar- 
dian of  this  new  world.  The  royal  consent  being 
obtained,  the  Comte  de  Soissons  became  Lieutenant- 
General  for  the  King  in  New  France,  with  vice- 
regal powers.  These,  in  turn,  he  conferred  upon 
Champlain,  making  him  his  lieutenant,  with  full 
control  over  the  trade  in  furs  at  and  above  Quebec, 
and  with  power  to  associate  with  himself  such 
persons  as  he  saw  fit,  to  aid  in  the  exploration 
and  settlement  of  the  country.* 

1  Commission  de  Monseigneur  le  Comte  de  Soissons  donn€e  aii  Sieur  de 
Champlein,  15  Oct.,  1612.  See  Champlain,  (1632,)  231,  and  Me'moires  des 
Commissaires,  II.  451. 


1612.]  condI:.  365 

Scarcely  was  tlie  commission  drawn  when  the 
Comte  de  Soissons,  attacked  with  fever,  died,  to 
the  joy  of  the  Breton  and  Norman  traders,  whose 
jubilation,  however,  found  a  speedy  end.  Henri 
de  Bourbon,  Prince  de  Conde,  first  prince  of  the 
blood,  assumed  the  vacant  protectorship.  He  was 
grandson  of  the  gay  and  gallant  Conde  of  the 
civil  wars,  was  father  of  the  great  Conde,  the 
youthful  victor  of  Rocroy,  and  was  husband  of 
Charlotte  de  Montmorenci,  whose  blonde  beauties 
had  fired  the  inflammable  heart  of  Henry  the 
Fourth.  To  the  unspeakable  wrath  of  that  keen 
lover,  the  prudent  Conde  fled  with  his  bride,  first 
to  Brussels,  and  then  to  Italy ;  nor  did  he  return 
to  France  till  the  regicide's  knife  had  put  his 
jealous  fears  to  rest.^  After  his  return,  he  began 
to  intrigue  against  the  court.  He  was  a  man  of 
common  abilities,  greedy  of  money  and  power, 
and  scarcely  seeking  even  the  decency  of  a  pretext 
to  cover  his  mean  ambition.^  His  chief  honor  — 
an  honor  somewhat  equivocal  —  is,  as  Voltaire 
observes,  to  have  been  father  of  the  great  Conde. 
Busy  with  his  intrigues,  he  cared  little  for  colonies 
and  discoveries ;  and  his  rank  and  power  were  his 
sole  qualifications  for  his  new  post. 

In  Champlain  alone  was  the  life  of  New  France. 
By  instinct  and  temperament  he  was  more  im- 
pelled to  the  adventurous  toils  of  exploration  than 

1  The  anecdote,  as  told  by  the^  Princess  herself  to  her  wandering  court 
during  the  romantic  campaigning  of  the  Fronde,  will  be  found  in  the 
curious  Memoires  de  Lenet, 

2  Memoires  de  Madame  de  Mottevilh,  passim;  Sismondi,  Histoire  des 
Fran^ais,  XXIV.,  XXV.,  pttmm. 


366  WAR.  — TRADE.  — DISCOVERY.  [1612. 

to  the  duller  task  of  building  colonies.  The  profits 
of  trade  had  value  in  his  eyes  only  as  means  to 
these  ends,  and  settlements  were  important  chiefly 
as  a  base  of  discovery.  Two  great  objects  eclipsed 
all  others,  —  to  find  a  route  to  the  Indies,  and  to 
bring  the  heathen  tribes  into  the  embraces  of  the 
Church,  since,  while  he  cared  little  for  their  bodies, 
his  solicitude  for  their  souls  knew  no  bounds. 

It  was  no  part  of  his  plan  to  establish  an  odious 
monopoly.  He  sought  rather  to  enlist  the  rival 
traders  in  his  cause ;  and  he  now,  in  concurrence 
with  De  Monts,  invited  them  to  become  sharers  in 
the  traffic,  under  certain  regulations,  and  on  con- 
dition of  aiding  in  the  establishment  and  support 
of  the  colony.  The  merchants  of  St.  Malo  and 
Rouen  accepted  the  terms,  and  became  members 
of  the  new  company ;  but  the  intractable  heretics 
of  Rochelle,  refractory  in  commerce  as  in  religion, 
kept  aloof,  and  preferred  the  chances  of  an  illicit 
trade.  The  prospects  of  New  France  were  far 
from  flattering;  for  little  could  be  hoped  from 
this  unwilling  league  of  selfish  traders,  each  jeal- 
ous of  the  rest.  They  gave  the  Prince  of  Conde 
large  gratuities  to  secure  his  countenance  and 
support.  The  hungry  viceroy  took  them,  and 
with  these  emoluments  his  interest  in  the  colony 
ended. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1612, 1613. 

THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU. 

Illusions.  —  A  Path  to  the  North  Sea.  —  The  Ottawa.  —  Forest 
Travellers.  —  Indian  Feast.  —  The  Impostor  exposed.  —  Re- 
turn TO  Montreal. 

The  arrangements  just  indicated  were  a  work 
of  time.  In  the  summer  of  1612,  Cham  plain  was 
forced  to  forego  his  yearly  voyage  to  New  France ; 
nor,  even  in  the  following  spring,  were  his  labors 
finished  and  the  rival  interests  brought  to  har- 
mony. Meanwhile,  incidents  occurred  destined 
to  have  no  small  influence  on  his  movements. 
Three  years  before,  after  his  second  fight  with 
the  Iroquois,  a  young  man  of  his  company  had 
boldly  volunteered  to  join  the  Indians  on  their 
homeward  journey,  and  winter  among  them. 
Champlain  gladly  assented,  and  in  the  following 
summer  the  adventurer  returned.  Another  young 
man,  one  Nicolas  de  Vignau,  next  offered  himself ; 
and  he  also,  embarking  in  the  Algonquin  canoes, 
passed  up  the  Ottawa,  and  was  seen  no  more  for  a 
twelvemonth.  In  1612  he  reappeared  in  Paris, 
bringing  a  tale  of  wonders ;  for,  says  Champlain, 
"he  was  the  most  impudent  liar  that  has  been 
seen  for  many  a  day."     He  averred  that  at  the 


368  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

sources  of  the  Ottawa  lie  had  found  a  great  lake ; 
that  he  had  crossed  it,  and  discovered  a  river  flow- 
ing northward ;  that  he  had  descended  this  river, 
and  reached  the  shores  of  the  sea;  that  here  he 
had  seen  the  wreck  of  an  English  ship,  whose 
crew,  escaping  to  land,  had  been  killed  by  the 
Indians ;  and  that  this  sea  was  distant  from  Mon- 
treal only  seventeen  days  by  canoe.  The  clear- 
ness, consistency,  and  apparent  simplicity  of  his 
story  deceived  Champlain,  who  had  heard  of  a 
voyage  of  the  English  to  the  northern  seas,  coupled 
with  rumors  of  wreck  and  disaster,^  and  was  thus 
confirmed  in  his  belief  of  Vignau's  honesty.  The 
Marechal  de  Brissac,  the  President  Jeannin,  and 
other  persons  of  eminence  about  the  court,  greatly 
interested  by  these  dexterous  fabrications,  urged 
Champlain  to  follow  up  without  delay  a  discovery 
which  promised  results  so  important;  while  he, 
with  the  Pacific,  Japan,  China,  the  Spice  Islands, 
and  India  stretching  in  flattering  vista  before  his 
fancy,  entered  with  eagerness  on  the  chase  of  this 
illusion.  Early  in  the  sprmg  of  1613  the  un- 
wearied voyager  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  sailed 
up  the  St.  Lawrence.  On  Monday,  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  May,  he  left  the  island  of  St.  Helen, 
opposite  Montreal,  with  four  Frenchmen,  one  of 
whom  was  Nicolas  de  Vignau,  and  one  Indian,  in 
two  small  canoes.  They  passed  the  swift  current 
at  St.  Ann's,  crossed  the  Lake  of  Two  Mountains, 

1  Evidently  the  voyage  of  Henry  Hudson  in  1610-12,  when  that  navi- 
gator, after  discovering  Hudson's  Strait,  lost  his  life  through  a  mutiny. 
Compare  Je'remie,  Relation,  in  Recueil  de  Voyages  au  Nord,  VI. 


1613.]  CHAMPLAIN  ON  THE  OTTAWA.  369 

and  advanced  up  the  Ottawa  till  the  rapids  of 
Carillon  and  the  Long  Saut  checked  their  course. 
So  dense  and  tangled  was  the  forest,  that  they 
were  forced  to  remain  in  the  bed  of  the  river, 
trailing  their  canoes  along  the  bank  with  cords, 
or  pushing  them  by  main  force  up  the  current. 
Champlain's  foot  slipped ;  he  fell  in  the  rapids, 
two  boulders,  against  which  he  braced  himself, 
saving  him  from  being  swept  down,  while  the 
cord  of  the  canoe,  twisted  round  his  hand,  nearly 
severed  it.  At  length  they  reached  smoother 
water,  and  presently  met  fifteen  canoes  of  friendly 
Indians.  Champlain  gave  them  the  most  awk- 
ward of  his  Frenchmen,  and  took  one  of  their 
number  in  return,  —  an  exchange  greatly  to  his 
profit. 

All  day  they  plied  their  paddles,  and  when 
night  came  they  made  their  camp-fire  in  the  forest. 
He  who  now,  when  two  centuries  and  a  half  are 
passed,  would  see  the  evening  bivouac  of  Cham- 
plain,  has  but  to  encamp,  with  Indian  guides,  on 
the  upper  waters  of  this  same  Ottawa,  or  on  the 
borders  of  some  lonely  river  of  New  Brunswick  or 
of  Maine. 

Day  dawned.  The  east  glowed  with  tranquil 
fire,  that  pierced,  with  eyes  of  flame,  the  fir  trees 
whose  jagged  tops  stood  drawn  in  black  against 
the  burning  heaven.  Beneath,  the  glossy  river 
slept  in  shadow,  or  spread  far  and  wide  in  sheets 
of  burnished  bronze ;  and  the  white  moon,  paling 
in  the  face  of  day,  hung  like  a  disk  of  silver  in 
the  western  sky.     Now,  a  fervid  light  touched  the 

24 


370  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

dead  top  of  the  hemlock,  and,  creeping  downward, 
bathed  the  mossy  beard  of  the  patriarchal  cedar,  un- 
stirred in  the  breathless  air.  Now,  a  fiercer  spark 
beamed  from  the  east ;  and  now,  half  risen  on  the 
sight,  a  dome  of  crimson  fire,  the  sun  blazed  with 
floods  of  radiance  across  the  awakened  wilderness. 

The  canoes  were  launched  again,  and  the  voy- 
agers held  their  course.  Soon  the  still  surface  was 
flecked  with  spots  of  foam ;  islets  of  froth  floated 
by,  tokens  of  some  great  convulsion.  Then,  on 
their  left,  the  falling  curtain  of  the  Rideau  shone 
like  silver  betwixt  its  bordering  woods,  and  in 
front,  white  as  a  snow-drift,  the  cataracts  of  the 
Chaudiere  barred  their  way.  They  saw  the  un- 
bridled river  careering  down  its  sheeted  rocks, 
foaming  in  unfathomed  chasms,  wearying  the  soli- 
tude with  the  hoarse  outcry  of  its  agony  and 
rage. 

On  the  brink  of  the  rocky  basin  where  the 
plunging  torrent  boiled  like  a  caldron,  and  puffs 
of  spray  sprang  out  from  its  concussion  like  smoke 
from  the  throat  of  a  cannon,  Champlain's  two  In- 
dians took  their  stand,  and,  with  a  loud  invocation, 
threw  tobacco  into  the  foam,  an  offering  to  the 
local  spirit,  the  Manitou  of  the  cataract.^ 

They  shouldered  their  canoes  over  the  rocks,  and 
through  the  woods ;   then  launched  them  again, 

1  An  invariable  custom  with  the  upper  Indians  on  passing  this  place. 
When  many  were  present,  it  was  attended  with  solemn  dances  and 
speeches,  a  contribution  of  tobacco  being  first  taken  on  a  dish.  It  was 
thought  to  insure  a  safe  voyage ;  but  was  often  an  occasion  of  disaster, 
since  hostile  war  parties,  lying  in  ambush  at  the  spot,  would  surprise  and 
kill  the  votaries  of  the  Manitou  in  the  very  presence  of  their  guardian.  It 
is  on  the  return  voyage  that  Champlain  particularly  describes  the  sacrifice. 


1613.]  THE   OTTAWA.  371 

and,  with  toil  and  struggle,  made  their  amphibious 
way,  pushing,  dragging,  lifting,  paddling,  shoving 
with  poles ;  till,  when  the  evening  sun  poured  its 
level  rays  across  the  quiet  Lake  of  the  Chaudiere, 
they  landed,  and  made  their  camp  on  the  verge  of 
a  woody  island. 

Day  by  day  brought  a  renewal  of  their  toils. 
Hour  by  hour,  they  moved  prosperously  up  the 
long  windings  of  the  solitary  stream  ;  then,  in 
quick  succession,  rapid  followed  rapid,  till  the  bed 
of  the  Ottawa  seemed  a  slope  of  foam.  Now,  like 
a  wall  bristling  at  the  top  with  woody  islets,  the 
Falls  of  the  Chats  faced  them  with  the  sheer  plunge 
of  their  sixteen  cataracts.  Now  they  glided  be- 
neath overhanging  cliffs,  where,  seeing  but  unseen, 
the  crouched  wild-cat  eyed  them  from  the  thicket ; 
now  through  the  maze  of  water-girded  rocks,  which 
the  white  cedar  and  the  spruce  clasped  with  ser- 
pent-like roots,  or  among  islands  where  old  hem- 
locks darkened  the  water  with  deep  green  shadow. 
Here,  too,  the  rock-maple  reared  its  verdant  masses, 
the  beech  its  glistening  leaves  and  clean,  smooth 
stem,  and  behind,  stiff  and  sombre,  rose  the  balsam- 
fir.  Here,  in  the  tortuous  channels,  the  muskrat 
swam  and  plunged,  and  the  splashing  wild  duck 
dived  beneath  the  alders  or  among  the  red  and 
matted  roots  of  thirsty  water-willows.  Aloft,  the 
white  pine  towered  above  a  sea  of  verdure ;  old 
fir  trees,  hoary  and  grim,  shaggy  with  pendent 
mosses,  leaned  above  the  stream,  and  beneath, 
dead  and  submerged,  some  fallen  oak  thrust  from 
the  current  its  bare,  bleached  limbs,  like  the  skele- 


372  THE   IMPOSTOR   VIGNAU.  [1513. 

ton  of  a  drowned  giant.  In  the  weedy  cove  stood 
the  moose,  neck-deep  in  water  to  escape  the  flies, 
wading  shoreward,  with  glistening  sides,  as  the 
canoes  drew  near,  shaking  his  broad  antlers  and 
writhing  his  hideous  nostril,  as  with  clumsy  trot 
he  vanished  in  the  woods. 

In  these  ancient  wilds,  to  whose  ever  verdant 
antiquity  the  pyramids  are  young  and  Nineveh  a 
mushroom  of  yesterday ;  where  the  sage  wanderer 
of  the  Odyssey,  could  he  have  urged  his  pilgrimage 
so  far,  would  have  surveyed  the  same  grand  and 
stern  monotony,  the  same  dark  sweep  of  melan- 
choly woods ;  —  here,  while  New  England  was  a 
solitude,  and  the  settlers  of  Virginia  scarcely  dared 
venture  inland  beyond  the  sound  of  a  cannon-shot, 
Champlain  was  planting  on  shores  and  islands 
the  emljlems  of  his  faith.  Of  the  pioneers  of  the 
North  American  forests,  his  name  stands  foremost 
on  the  list.  It  was  he  who  struck  the  deepest  and 
boldest  strokes  into  the  heart  of  their  pristine  bar- 
barism. At  Chantilly,  at  Fontainebleau,  at  Paris, 
in  the  cabinets  of  princes  and  of  royalty  itself, 
mingling  witli  the  proud  vanities  of  the  court ; 
then  lost  from  sight  in  the  depths  of  Canada,  the 
companion  of  savages,  sharer  of  their  toils,  priva- 
tions, and  battles,  more  hardy,  patient,  and  bold 
than  they  ;  —  such,  for  successive  years,  were  the 
alternations  of  this  man's  life. 

To  follow  on  his  trail  once  more.  His  Indians 
said  that  the  rapids  of  the  river  above  were  im- 
passable. Nicolas  de  Yignau  affirmed  the  con- 
trary ;  but,  from  the  first,  Vignau  had  been  found 


1613.J  FOREST  TRAVELLERS.  373 

always  in  the  wrong.  His  aim  seems  to  have 
been  to  involve  his  leader  in  difficulties,  and  dis- 
gust him  with  a  journey  which  must  soon  result 
in  exposing  the  imposture  which  had  occasioned 
it.  Champlain  took  counsel  of  the  Indians.  The 
party  left  the  river,  and  entered  the  forest. 

"  We  had  a  hard  march,"  says  Champlain.  "  I 
carried  for  my  share  of  the  luggage  three  arque- 
buses, three  paddles,  my  overcoat,  and  a  few  haga- 
telles.  My  men  carried  a  little  more  than  I  did, 
and  suffered  more  from  the  mosquitoes  than  from 
their  loads.  After  we  had  passed  four  small 
ponds  and  advanced  two  leagues  and  a  half,  we 
were  so  tired  that  we  could  go  no  farther,  having 
eaten  nothing  but  a  little  roasted  fish  for  nearly 
twenty-four  hours.  So  we  stopped  in  a  pleasant 
place  enough  by  the  edge  of  a  pond,  and  lighted 
a  fire  to  drive  off  the  mosquitoes,  which  plagued 
us  beyond  all  description ;  and  at  the  same  time 
we  set  our  nets  to  catch  a  few  fish." 

On  the  next  day  they  fared  still  worse,  for  their 
way  was  through  a  pine  forest  where  a  tornado 
had  passed,  tearing  up  the  trees  and  piling  them 
one  upon  another  in  a  vast  '"  windfall,"  where 
boughs,  roots,  and  trunks  were  mixed  in  confu- 
sion. Sometimes  they  climbed  over  and  some- 
times crawled  through  these  formidable  barricades, 
till,  after  an  exhausting  march,  they  reached  the 
banks  of  Muskrat  Lake,  by  the  edge  of  which  was 
an  Indian  settlement.^ 

1  In  1867  a  man  in  the  employ  of  Captain  Overman  found,  on  the  line 
of  march  followed  by  Champlain  from  the  pond  where  he  passed  the  night 


374  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

This  neighborhood  was  the  seat  of  the  principal 
Indian  population  of  the  river/  and,  as  the  canoes 
advanced,  unwonted  signs  of  human  life  could  be 
seen  on  the  borders  of  the  lake.  Here  was  a 
rough  clearing.  The  trees  had  been  burned ;  there 
was  a  rude  and  desolate  gap  in  the  sombre  green 
of  the  pine  forest.  Dead  trunks,  blasted  and 
black  with  fire,  stood  grimly  upright  amid  the 
charred  stumps  and  prostrate  bodies  of  comrades 
half  consumed.  In  the  intervening  spaces,  the 
soil  had  been  feebly  scratched  with  hoes  of  wood 
or  bone,  and  a  crop  of  maize  was  growing,  now 
some  four  inches  high.^  The  dwellings  of  these 
slovenly  farmers,   framed  of   poles  covered   with 

to  Muskrat  Lake,  a  brass  astrolabe  bearing  the  date  1603.  As  the  astro- 
labe, ati  antiquated  instrument  for  taking  latitudes,  was  not  many  years 
after  Champlain's  day  superseded  by  the  quadrant,  at  least  so  far  as 
French  usage  was  concerned,  the  conjecture  is  admissible  that  this  one 
was  dropped  by  him.  See  a  pamphlet  by  A.  J.  Russell,  Champlain's  Astro- 
labe (Montreal,  1879),  and  another  by  0.  H.  Marshall,  Discovery  of  an 
Astrolabe  sxipposed  to  have  been  lost  bij  Champlain  (New  York,  1879). 

1  Usually  called  Algoumequins,  or  Algonquins,  by  Champlain  and 
other  early  writers,  —  a  name  now  always  used  in  a  generic  sense  to 
designate  a  large  family  of  cognate  tribes,  speaking  languages  radically 
similar,  and  covering  a  vast  extent  of  country. 

The  Algonquins  of  the  Isle  des  Allumettes  and  its  neighborhood  are 
most  frequently  mentioned  by  the  early  writers  as  la  Nation  de  I'lsle- 
Lalemant  {Relation  des  Hurons,  1639)  calls  them  Ehonkeronons.  Vimont 
(Relation,  1640)  calls  them  Kichesipirini.  The  name  Algonquin  was  used 
generically  as  early  as  the  time  of  Sagard,  whose  Histoire  du  Canada 
appeared  in  1636.  Champlain  always  limits  it  to  the  tribes  of  the 
Ottawa. 

Isle  des  Allumettes  was  called  also  Isle  du  Borgne,  from  a  renowned 
one-eyed  chief  who  made  liis  abode  here,  and  who,  after  greatly  exasper- 
ating the  Jesuits  by  his  evil  courses,  at  last  became  a  convert  and  died  in 
the  faith.  They  regarded  the  people  of  this  island  as  the  haughtiest  of 
all  the  tribes.     Le  Jeune,  Relation  (1636),  230. 

2  Champlain,  Quatriesme  Voynr/e,  29.  This  is  a  pamphlet  of  fifty-two 
pages,  containing  the  journal  of  his  voyage  of  1613,  and  apparently  pub- 
lished at  the  close  of  that  year. 


1613.]  OTTAWA  CEMETERY.  375 

sheets  of  bark,  were  scattered  here  and  there, 
singly  or  in  groups,  while  their  tenants  were  run- 
ning to  the  shore  in  amazement.  The  chief,  Ni- 
bachis,  offered  the  calumet,  then  harangued  the 
crowd :  "  These  white  men  must  have  fallen  from 
the  clouds.  How  else  could  they  have  re^ached  us 
through  the  woods  and  rapids  which  even  we  find 
it  hard  to  pass  ?  The  French  chief  can  do  any- 
thing. All  that  we  have  heard  of  him  must  be 
true."  And  they  hastened  to  regale  the  hungry 
visitors  with  a  repast  of  fish. 

Champlain  asked  for  guidance  to  the  settlements 
above.  It  was  readily  granted.  Escorted  by  his 
friendly  hosts,  he  advanced  beyond  the  foot  of 
Muskrat  Lake,  and,  landing,  saw  the  unaccus- 
tomed sight  of  pathways  through  the  forest.  They 
led  to  the  clearings  and  cabins  of  a  chief  named 
Tessouat,  who,  amazed  at  the  apparition  of  the 
white  strangers,  exclaimed  that  he  must  be  in  a 
dream.-^  Next,  the  voyagers  crossed  to  the  neigh- 
boring island,  then  deeply  wooded  with  pine,  elm, 
and  oak.  Here  were  more  desolate  clearings, 
more  rude  cornfields  and  bark-built  cabins.  Here, 
too,  was  a  cemetery,  which  excited  the  wonder  of 
Champlain,  for  the  dead  were  better  cared  for  than 
the  living.  Each  grave  was  covered  with  a  double 
row  of  pieces  of  wood,  inclined  like  a  roof  till  they 

1  Tessouat's  village  seems  to  have  been  on  the  lower  Lac  des  Allu- 
mettes,  a  wide  expansion  of  that  arm  of  the  Ottawa  which  flows  along  the 
southern  side  of  Isle  des  Allumettes.  Champlain,  perhaps  from  the  loss 
of  his  astrolabe,  is  wrong,  by  one  degree,  in  his  reckoning  of  the  latitude, 
47°  for  46°.  Tessouat  was  father,  or  predecessor,  of  the  chief  Le  Borgne, 
whose  Indian  name  was  the  same.     See  note,  ante,  p.  374. 


376  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

crossed  at  the  ridge,  along  which  was  laid  a  thick 
tablet  'of  wood,  meant  apparently  either  to  bind 
the  whole  together  or  protect  it  from  rain.  At 
one  end  stood  an  upright,  tablet,  or  flattened  post, 
rudely  carved  with  an  intended  representation  of 
the  featuj:'es  of  the  deceased.  If  a  chief,  the  head 
was  adorned  with  a  plume.  If  a  warrior,  there 
were  figures  near  it  of  a  shield,  a  lance,  a  war-club, 
and  a  bow  and  arrows ;  if  a  boy,  of  a  small  bow 
and  one  arrow ;  and  if  a  woman  or  a  girl,  of  a 
kettle,  an  earthen  pot,  a  wooden  spoon,  and  a 
paddle.  The  whole  was  decorated  with  red  and 
yellow  paint ;  and  beneath  slept  the  departed, 
wrapped  in  a  robe  of  skins,  his  earthly  treasures 
about  him,  ready  for  use  in  the  land  of  souls. 

Tessouat  was  to  give  a  tahagie,  or  solemn  feast, 
in  honor  of  Champlain,  and  the  chiefs  and  elders 
of  the  island  were  invited.  Runners  were  sent 
to  summon  the  guests  from  neighboring  hamlets ; 
and,  on  the  morrow,  Tessouat' s  squaws  swept  his 
cabin  for  the  festivity.  Then  Champlain  and  his 
Frenchmen  were  seated  on  skins  in  the  place  of 
honor,  and  the  naked  guests  appeared  in  quick 
succession,  each  with  his  wooden  dish  and  spoon, 
and  each  ejaculating  his  guttural  salute  as  he 
stooped  at  the  low  door.  The  spacious  cabin  was 
full.  The  congregated  wisdom  and  prowess  of  the 
nation  sat  expectant  on  the  bare  earth.  Each 
long,  bare  arm  thrust  forth  its  dish  in  turn  as  the 
host  served  out  the  banquet,  in  which,  as  courtesy 
enjoined,  he  himself  was  to  have  no  share.  First, 
a  mess  of  pounded  maize,  in  which  were  boiled, 


1613.]  INDIAN  FEAST.  377 

without  salt,  morsels  of  fish  and  dark  scraps  of 
meat ;  then,  fish  and  flesh  broiled  on  the  embers, 
with  a  kettle  of  cold  water  from  the  river.  Cham- 
plain,  in  wise  distrust  of  Ottawa  cookery,  confined 
himself  to  the  simpler  and  less  doubtful  viands. 
A  few  minutes,  and  all  alike  had  vanished.  The 
kettles  were  empty.  Then  pipes  were  filled  and 
touched  with  fire  brought  in  by  the  squaws,  while 
the  young  men  who  had  stood  thronged  about  the 
entrance  now  modestly  withdrew,  and  the  door 
was  closed  for  counsel.^ 

First,  the  pipes  were  passed  to  Champlain. 
Then,  for  full  half  an  hour,  the  assembly  smoked 
in  silence.  At  length,  when  the  fitting  time  was 
come,  he  addressed  them  in  a  speech  in  which  he 
declared,  that,  moved  by  affection  for  them,  he 
visited  their  country  to  see  its  richness  and  its 
beauty,  and  to  aid  them  in  their  wars ;  and  he 
now  begged  them  to  furnish  him  with  four  canoes 
and  eight  men,  to  convey  him  to  the  country  of 
the  Nipissings,  a  tribe  dwelling  northward  on  the 
lake  which  bears  their  name.^ 

1  Champlain's  account  of  this  feast  (Quatriesme  Voijage,  32)  is  unusually 
minute  and  graphic.  In  every  particular  —  excepting  the  pounded  maize 
—  it  might,  as  the  writer  can  attest  from  personal  experience,  be  taken  as 
the  description  of  a  similar  feast  among  some  of  the  tribes  of  the  Far 
West  at  the  present  day,  as,  for  example,  one  of  the  remoter  bands  of  the 
Dacotah,  a  race  radically  distinct  from  the  Algonquin. 

2  The  Nebecerini  of  Champlain,  called  also  Nipisshif/aes,  Nipissiri'niens, 
Nibissiriniens,  Bisslriniens,  Epiciriniens,  by  various  early  French  writers. 
They  are  the  Askikouanheronons  of  Lalemant,  who  borrowed  the  name 
from  the  Huron  tongue,  and  were  also  called  Sorciers  from  their  ill  repute 
as  magicians.  They  belonged,  like  the  Ottawas,  to  the  great  Algonquin 
family,  and  are  considered  by  Charlevoix  (Journal  Ilistorique,  186)  as  alone 
preserving  the  original  type  of  that  race  and  language.  They  had,  how- 
ever, borrowed  certain  usages  from  their  Huron  neighbors. 


378  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

His  audience  looked  grave,  for  they  were  but 
cold  and  jealous  friends  of  the  Nipissings.  For 
a  time  they  discoursed  in  murmuring  tones  among 
themselves,  all  smoking  meanwhile  with  redoubled 
vigor.  Then  Tessouat,  chief  of  these  forest  repub- 
licans, rose  and  spoke  in  behalf  of  all. 

"  We  always  knew  you  for  our  best  friend 
among  the  Frenchmen.  We  love  you  like  our 
own  children.  But  why  did  you  break  your  word 
with  us  last  year  when  we  all  went  down  to  meet 
you  at  Montreal,  to  give  you  presents  and  go 
with  you  to  war  ?  You  were  not  there,  but  other 
Frenchmen  were  there  who  abused  us.  We  will 
never  go  again.  As  for  the  four  canoes,  you  shall 
have  them  if  you  insist  upon  it ;  but  it  grieves  us 
to  think  of  the  hardships  you  must  endure.  The 
Nipissings  have  weak  hearts.  They  are  good  for 
nothing  in  war,  but  they  kill  us  with  charms,  and 
they  poison  us.  Therefore  we  are  on  bad  terms 
with  them.     They  will  kill  you,  too." 

Such  was  the  pith  of  Tessouat's  discourse,  and 
at  each  clause  the  conclave  responded  in  unison 
with  an  approving  grunt. 

Champlain  urged  his  petition ;  sought  to  relieve 
their  tender  scruples  in  his  behalf ;  assured  them 
that  he  was  charm-proof,  and  that  he  feared  no 
hardships.  At  length  he  gained  his  point.  The 
canoes  and  the  men  were  promised,  and,  seeing 
himself  as  he  thought  on  the  highway  to  his  phan- 
tom Northern  Sea,  he  left  his  entertainers  to  their 
pipes,  and  with  a  light  heart  issued  from  the  close 
and  smoky  den  to  breathe  the  fresh  air  of  the 


I613.J  INDIAN  COUNCIL.  379 

afternoon.  He  visited  the  Indian  fields,  with 
their  young  crops  of  pumpkins,  beans,  and  French 
peas,  —  the  last  a  novelty  obtained  from  the  trad- 
ers.-^ Here,  Thomas,  the  interpreter,  soon  joined 
him  with  a  countenance  of  ill  news.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  Champlain,  the  assembly  had  reconsidered 
their  assent.     The  canoes  were  denied. 

With  a  troubled  mind  he  hastened  again  to  the 
hall  of  council,  and  addressed  the  naked  senate  in 
terms  better  suited  to  his  exigencies  than  to  their 
dignity. 

*'  I  thought  you  were  men ;  I  thought  you  would 
hold  fast  to  your  word :  but  I  find  you  children, 
without  truth.  You  call  yourselves  my  friends, 
yet  you  break  faith  with  me.  Still  I  would  not 
incommode  you ;  and  if  you  cannot  give  me  four 
canoes,  two  will  serve."  ^ 

The  burden  of  the  reply  was,  rapids,  rocks, 
cataracts,  and  the  wickedness  of  the  Nipissings. 
"  We  will  not  give  you  the  canoes,  because  we 
are  afraid  of  losing  you,"  they  said. 

"  This  young  man,"  rejoined  Champlain,  point- 
ing to  Vignau,  who  sat  by  his  side,  "  has  been  to 
their  country,  and  did  not  find  the  road  or  the 
people  so  bad  as  you  have  said." 

"  Nicolas,"  demanded  Tessouat,  "  did  you  say 
that  you  had  been  to  the  Nipissings  ? " 

1  "  Pour  passer  le  reste  du  jour,  je  fus  me  pourmener  par  les  jardins, 
qui  n'estoient  remplis  que  de  quelques  citrouilles,  phasioles,  et  de  nos  pois, 
qu'ils  commencent  h  cultiver,  oil  Thomas,  mon  truchement,  qui  entendoit 
fort  bien  la  laugue,  me  vint  trouver,"  etc.    Champlain,  ( 1 632,)  Lib.  IV.  c.  2. 

2  "  .  .  .  .  et  leur  dis,  que  je  les  avois  jusques  a  ce  jour  estimez  hommes, 
et  veritables,  et  que  maintenant  lis  se  monstroient  enfants  et  meusougers,'" 
etc.    Ibid. 


380  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

The  impostor  sat  mute  for  a  time,  and  then  re- 
plied, "  Yes,  I  have  been  there." 

Hereupon  an  outcry  broke  from  the  assembly, 
and  they  turned  their  eyes  on  him  askance,  "as 
if,"  says  Champlain,  "  they  would  have  torn  and 
eaten  him." 

"  You  are  a  liar,"  returned  the  unceremonious 
host ;  "  you  know  very  well  that  you  slept  here 
among  my  children  every  night,  and  got  up  again 
every  morning ;  and  if  you  ever  went  to  the  Ni- 
pissings,  it  must  have  been  when  you  were  asleep. 
How  can  you  be  so  impudent  as  to  lie  to  your  chief, 
and  so  wicked  as  to  risk  his  life  among  so  many 
dangers?  He  ought  to  kill  you  with  tortures  worse 
than  those  with  which  we  kill  our  enemies."  ^ 

Champlain  urged  him  to  reply,  but  he  sat 
motionless  and  dumb.  Then  he  led  him  from 
the  cabin,  and  conjured  him  to  declare  if  in  truth 
he  had  seen  this  sea  of  the  north.  Vignau,  with 
oaths,  affirmed  that  all  he  had  said  was  true.  Re- 
turning to  the  council,  Champlain  repeated  the 
impostor's  story :  how  he  had  seen  the  sea,  the 
wreck  of  an  English  ship,  the  heads  of  eighty 
Englishmen,  and  an  English  boy,  prisoner  among 
the  Indians. 


1  "  Alors  Tessouat  ....  luy  dit  en  son  langage :  Nicolas,  est-il  vray 
que  tu  as  dit  avoir  este  aux  Nebecerini  ?  II  fut  longtemps  sans  parler, 
puis  il  leur  dit  en  leur  langue,  qu'il  parloit  aucunement:  Ouy  j'y  ay  este'. 
Aussitost  ils  le  regarderent  de  travers,  et  se  jettant  sur  luy,  comme  s'ils 
I'eussent  voulu  manger  ou  deschirer,  firent  de  grands  cris,  et  Tessouat  luy 
dit :  Tu  es  un  asseure  menteur :  tu  S9ais  bien  que  tons  les  soirs  tu  cou^ 
chois  a  mes  costez  avec  nies  enfants,  et  tons  les  matins  tu  t'y  levois :  si 
tu  as  este  vers  ces  peuples,  9 'a  este  en  dormant,"  etc.  Champlain,  (1632,) 
Lib.  IV  c.  2. 


1613.]  THE  IMPOSTOR  UNMASKED.  381 

x\t  this,  an  outcry  rose  louder  than  before,  and 
the  Indians  turned  in  ire  upon  Vignau. 

*'  You  are  a  liar."  "  Which  way  did  you  go  ?  " 
''  By  what  rivers  ?  "  "  By  what  lakes  ?  "  "  Who 
went  with  you  ?  " 

Vignau  had  made  a  map  of  his  travels,  which 
Champlain  now  produced,  desiring  him  to  explain 
it- to  his  questioners ;  but  his  assurance  failed  him, 
and  he  could  not  utter  a  word. 

Champlain  was  greatly  agitated.  His  heart 
was  in  the  enterprise ;  his  reputation  was  in  a 
measure  at  stake ;  and  now,  when  he  thought  his 
triumph  so  near,  he  shrank  from  believing  himself 
the  sport  of  an  impudent  impostor.  The  council 
broke  up ;  the  Indians  displeased  and  moody,  and 
he,  on  his  part,  full  of  anxieties  and  doubts. 

"  I  called  Vignau  to  me  in  presence  of  his  com- 
panions," he  says.  "  I  told  him  that  the  time  for 
deceiving  me  was  ended ;  that  he  must  tell  me 
whether  or  not  he  had  really  seen  the  things  he 
had  told  of ;  that  I  had  forgotten  the  past,  but 
that^  if  he  continued  to  mislead  me,  I  would  have 
him  hanged  without  mercy." 

Vignau  pondered  for  a  moment ;  then  fell  on 
his  knees,  owned  his  treachery,  and  begged  for- 
giveness. Champlain  broke  into  a  rage,  and,  un- 
able, as  he  says,  to  endure  the  sight  of  him, 
ordered  him  from  his  presence,  and  sent  the  in- 
terpreter after  him  to  make  further  examination. 
Vanity,  the  love  of  notoriety,  and  the  hope  of 
reward,  seem  to  have  been  his  inducements ;  for 
he  had  in  fact  spent  a  quiet  winter  in  Tessouat's 


382  THE  IMPOSTOR  VIGNAU.  [1613. 

cabin,  his  nearest  approach  to  the  northern  sea ; 
and  he  had  flattered  himself  that  he  might  escape 
the  necessity  of  guiding  his  commander  to  this 
pretended  discovery.  The  Indians  were  somewhat 
exultant.  "  Why  did  you  not  listen  to  chiefs  and 
warriors,  instead  of  believing  the  lies  of  this  fel- 
low?" And  they  counselled  Champlain  to  have 
him  killed  at  once,  adding,  "  Give  him  to  us,  and 
we  promise  you  that  he  shall  never  lie  again." 

No  motive  remaining  for  farther  advance,  the 
party  set  out  on  their  return,  attended  by  a  fleet 
of  forty  canoes  bound  to  Montreal^  for  trade. 
They  passed  the  perilous  rapids  of  the  Calumet, 
and  were  one  night  encamped  on  an  island,  when 
an  Indian,  slumbering  in  an  uneasy  posture,  was 
visited  with  a  nightmare.  He  leaped  up  with  a 
yell,  screamed  that  somebody  was  killing  him,  and 
ran  for  refuge  into  the  river.  Instantly  all  his 
companions  sprang  to  their  feet,  and,  hearing  in 
fancy  the  Iroquois  war-whoop,  took  to  the  water, 
splashing,  diving,  and  wading  up  to  their  necks, 
in  the  blindness  of  their  fright.  Champlain*and 
his  Frenchmen,  roused  at  the  noise,  snatched 
their  weapons  and  looked  in  vain  for  an  enemy. 
The  panic-stricken  warriors,  reassured  at  length, 
waded  crestfallen  ashore,  and  the  whole  ended  in 
a  laugh. 

At  the  Chaudi^re,  a  contribution  of  tobacco  was 
collected  on  a  wooden  platter,  and,  after  a  solemn 
harangue,  was  thrown  to  the  guardian  Manitou. 

*  The  name  is  used  here  for  distinctness.  The  locality  is  indicated  by 
Champlain  as  Ze  Saut,  from  the  Saut  St.  Louis,  immediately  above. 


1613.]  ARRIVAL  AT  MONTREAL.  383 

On  the  seventeenth  of  June  they  approached  Mon- 
treal, where  the  assembled  traders  greeted  them 
with  discharges  of  small  arms  and  cannon.  Here, 
among  the  rest,  was  Champlain's  lieutenant,  Du 
Pare,  with  his  men,  who  had  amused  their  leisure 
with  hunting,  and  were  revelling  in  a  sylvan  abun- 
dance, while  their  baffled  chief,  with  worry  of 
mind,  fatigue  of  body,  and  a  Lenten  diet  of  half- 
cooked  fish,  was  grievously  fallen  away  in  flesh 
and  strength.  He  kept  his  word  with  De  Vignau, 
left  the  scoundrel  unpunished,  bade  farewell  to  the 
Indians,  and,  promising  to  rejoin  them  the  next 
year,  embarked  in  one  of  the  trading-ships  for 
France. 


CHAPTER   Xin. 

1615. 

DISCOVERY  OF  LAKE   HURON. 

Religious  Zeal  of  Champlain.  —  Recollet  Friars.  —  St.  Francis. 
—  Exploration  and  War.  —  Le  Caron  on  the  Ottawa.  —  Cham- 
plain    REACHES    LaICE    HuRON.  —  TlIE   HuRON    ToWNS.  —  MaSS    IN 

the  Wilderness. 

In  New  France,  spiritual  and  temporal  inter- 
ests were  inseparably  blended,  and,  as  will  here- 
after appear,  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  was 
used  as  a  means  of  commercial  and  political 
growth.  But,  with  the  single-hearted  founder  of 
the  colony,  considerations  of  material  advantage, 
though  clearly  recognized,  were  no  less  clearly 
subordinate.  He  would  fain  rescue  from  perdi- 
tion a  people  living,  as  he  says,  "  like  brute  beasts, 
without  faith,  without  law,  without  religion,  with- 
out God."  While  the  want  of  funds  and  the 
indifference  of  his  merchant  associates,  who  as 
yet  did  not  fully  see  that  their  trade  would  find 
in  the  missions  its  surest  ally,  were  threatening 
to  wreck  his  benevolent  schemes,  he  found  a  kin- 
dred spirit  in  his  friend  Houel,  secretary  to  the 
King,  and  comptroller-general  of  the  salt-works 
of  Brouage.  Near  this  town  was  a  convent  of 
Recollet  friars,  some  of  whom  were  well  known 
to  Houel.      To  them  he  addressed  himself;   and 


1615.]  RfiCOLLET  FRIARS.  385 

several  of  the  brotherhood,  "  inflamed,"  we  are  told, 
"  with  charit}^,"  were  eager  to  undertake  the  mis- 
sion. But  the  Recollets,  mendicants  by  profession, 
were  as  weak  in  resources  as  Champlain  himself. 
He  repaired  to  Paris,  then  filled  with  bishops,  car- 
dinals, and  nobles,  assembled  for  the  States-Gen- 
eral. Responding  to  his  appeal,  they  subscribed 
fifteen  hundred  livres  for  the  purchase  of  vest- 
ments, candles,  and  ornaments  for  altars.  The 
King  gave  letters  patent  in  favor  of  the  mission, 
and  the  Pope  gave  it  his  formal  authorization. 
By  this  instrument  the  papacy  in  the  person  of 
Paul  the  Fifth  virtually  repudiated  the  action  of 
the  papacy  in  the  person  of  Alexander  the  Sixth, 
who  had  proclaimed  all  America  the  exclusive 
property  of  Spain.^ 

The  Recollets  form  a  branch  of  the  great  Fran- 
ciscan order,  founded  early  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury by  St.  Francis  of  Assisi.  Saint,  hero,  or 
madman,  according  to  the  point  of  view  from 
which  he  is  regarded,  he  belonged  to  an  era  of 
the  Church  when  the  tumult  of  invading  heresies 
awakened  in  her  defence  a  band  of  impassioned 
champions,  widely  different  from  the  placid  saints 
of  an  earlier  age.  He  was  very  young  when 
dreams  and  voices  began  to  reveal  to  him  his  vo- 
cation, and  kindle  his  high-wrought  nature  to 
sevenfold  heat.  Self-respect,  natural  affection, 
decency,  became  in  his  eyes  but  stumbling-blocks 
and   snares.      He   robbed   his   father   to   build   a 

1  The  papal  brief  and  the  royal  letter  are  in  Sagard,  Histoire  de  la 
Nouvelle  France,  and  Le  Clerc,  JEtablissement  de  la  Foy, 

26 


386  DISCOVERY  OF   LAKE  HURON.  [1615. 

church ;  and,  like  so  many  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
saints,  confounded  filth  with  humility,  exchanged 
clothes  with  beggars,  and  walked  the  streets  of 
Assisi  in  rags  amid  the  hootings  of  his  townsmen. 
He  vowed  perpetual  poverty  and  perpetual  beg- 
gary, and,  in  token  of  his  renunciation  of  the 
world,  stripped  himself  naked  before  the  Bishop 
of  Assisi,  and  then  begged  of  him  in  charity  a 
peasant's  mantle.  Crowds  gathered  to  his  fervid 
and  dramatic  eloquence.  His  handful  of  disciples 
multiplied,  till  Europe  became  thickly  dotted  with 
their  convents.  At  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, the  three  Orders  of  St.  Francis  numbered  a 
hundred  and  fifteen  thousand  friars  and  twenty- 
eight  thousand  nuns.  Four  popes,  forty -five  cardi- 
nals, and  forty-six  canonized  martyrs  were  enrolled 
on  their  record,  besides  about  two  thousand  more 
who  had  shed  their  blood  for  the  faith.-^  Their 
missions  embraced  nearly  all  the  known  world  ; 
and,  in  1621,  there  were  in  Spanish  America 
alone  five  hundred  Franciscan  convents.^ 

In  process  of  time  the  Franciscans  had  relaxed 
their  ancient  rigor;  but  much  of  their  pristine 
spirit  still  subsisted  in  the  Recollets,  a  reformed 
branch  of  the  Order,  sometimes  known  as  Fran- 
ciscans of  the  Strict  Observance. 

Four  of  their  number  were  named  for  the  mission 
of  New  France,  —  Denis  Jamay,  Jean  Dolbeau, 
Joseph  le  Caron,  and  the  lay  brother  Pacifique  du 

1  Helyot,  Histoire  des  Ordres  Religieux  et  Militaires,  devotes  his  seventh 
volume  (ed.  1792)  to  the  Franciscans  and  Jesuits.  He  draws  largely  from 
the  great  work  of  Wadding  on  the  Franciscans.    , 

'■^  Le  Clerc,  ^tablissement  de  la  Foy,  I.  33-52. 


1615.]  EifeCOLLET  FEIARS.  387 

Plessis.  *'  They  packed  their  church  ornaments," 
says  Champlain,  "  and  we,  our  higgage."  All  alike 
confessed  their  sins,  and,  embarking  at  Honfleur, 
reached  Quebec  at  the  end  of  May,  1615.  Great 
was  the  perplexity  of  the  Indians  as  the  apostolic 
mendicants  landed  beneath  the  rock.  Their  garb 
was  a  form  of  that  common  to  the  brotherhood  of 
St.  Francis,  consisting  of  a  rude  garment  of  coarse 
gray  cloth,  girt  at  the  waist  with  the  knotted  cord 
of  the  Order,  and  furnished  with  a  peaked  hood, 
to  be  drawn  over  the  head.  Their  naked  feet 
were  shod  with  wooden  sandals,  more  than  an  inch 
thick.^ 

Their  first  care  was  to  choose  a  site  for  their 
convent,  near  the  fortified  dwellings  and  store- 
houses built  by  Champlain.  This  done,  they  made 
an  altar,  and  celebrated  the  first  mass  ever  said  in 
Canada.  Dolbeau  was  the  officiating  priest ;  all 
New  France  kneeled  on  the  bare  earth  around  him, 
and  cannon  from  the  ship  and  the  ramparts  hailed 
the  mystic  rite.^  Then,  in  imitation  of  the  Apos- 
tles, they  took  counsel  together,  and  assigned  to 
each  his  province  in  the  vast  field  of  their  mis- 
sion :  to  Le  Caron,  the  Hurons,  and  to  Dolbeau,  the 
Montagnais ;  while  Jamay  and  Du  Plessis  w^ere  to 
remain  for  the  present  near  Quebec. 

Dolbeau,  full  of  zeal,  set  out  for  his  post,  and,  in 
the  next  winter,  tried  to  follow  the  roving  hordes 
of  Tadoussac  to  their  frozen  hunting-grounds.     He 

1  An  engraving  of  their  habit  will  be  found  in  Helyot  (1792). 
'^  Lettre  du  P.  Jean  Dolbeau  au  P.  Didace  David,  son  ami ;  de  Quebec  le 
20  Juillet,  1615.     See  Le  Clerc,  £tabUsseriient  de  la  Fay,  I.  62. 


388  DISCOVERY  OF  LAKE   HURON.  [1615. 

was  not  robust,  and  his  eyes  were  weak.  Lodged 
in  a  hut  of  birch  bark,  full  of  abominations,  dogs, 
fleas,  stench,  and  all  uncleanness,  he  succumbed  at 
length  to  the  smoke,  which  had  wellnigh  blinded 
him,  forcing  him  to  remain  for  several  days  with 
his  eyes  closed.^  After  debating  within  himself 
whether  God  required  of  him  the  sacrifice  of  his 
sight,  he  solved  his  doubts  with  a  negative,  and 
returned  to  Quebec,  only  to  dejoart  again  with 
opening  spring  on  a  tour  so  extensive,  that  it 
brought  him  in  contact  with  outlying  bands  of  the 
Esquimaux.^  Meanwhile  Le  Caron  had  long  been 
absent  on  a  more  noteworthy  mission. 

While  his  brethren  were  building  their  convent 
and  garnishing  their  altar  at  Quebec,  the  ar- 
dent friar  had  hastened  to  the  site  of  Montreal, 
then  thronged  with  a  savage  concourse,  come  down 
for  the  yearly  trade.  He  mingled  with  them, 
studied  their  manners,  tried  to  learn  their  lan- 
guages, and,  when  Champlain  and  Pontgrave  ar- 
rived, declared  his  purpose  of  wintering  in  their 
villages.  Dissuasion  availed  nothing.  "  What," 
he  demanded,  ''are  privations  to  him  whose  life 
is  devoted  to  perpetual  poverty,  and  who  has  no 
ambition  but  to  serve  God  ? " 

The  assembled  Indians  were  more  eager  for  tem- 
poral than  for  spiritual  succor,  and  beset  Cham- 
plain  with  clamors  for  aid  against  the  Iroquois. 
He  and  Pontgrave  were  of  one  mind.  The  aid 
demanded  must  be  given,  and  that  from  no  motive 

1  Sagard,  Ilist.  de  la  NouveUe  France,  26. 

2  Le  Clerc,  £tablissement  de  la  Foy,  L  71. 


1615.]  POLICY   OF   CHAMPLAIN.  389 

of  the  hour,  but  in  pursuance  of  a  deliberate  pol- 
icy. It  was  evident  that  the  innumerable  tribes 
of  New  France,  otherwise  divided,  were  united  in 
a  common  fear  and  hate  of  these  formidable 
bands,  who,  in  the  strength  of  their  fivefold 
league,  spread  havoc  and  desolation  through  all 
the  surrounding  wilds.  It  was  the  aim  of  Cham- 
plain,  as  of  his  successors,  to  persuade  the  threat- 
ened and  endangered  hordes  to  live  at  peace  with 
each  other,  and  to  form  against  the  common  foe 
a  virtual  league,  of  which  the  French  colony  would 
be  the  heart  and  the  head,  and  which  would  con- 
tinually widen  with  the  widening  area  of  discovery. 
With  French  soldiers  to  fight  their  battles,  French 
priests  to  baptize  them,  and  French  traders  to  sup- 
ply their  increasing  wants,  their  dependence  would 
be  complete.  They  would  become  assured  tributa- 
ries to  the  growth  of  New  France.  It  was  a  triple 
alliance  of  soldier,  priest,  and  trader.  The  soldier 
might  be  a  roving  knight,  and  the  priest  a  martyr 
and  a  saint ;  but  both  alike  were  subserving  the 
interests  of  that  commerce  which  formed  the  only 
solid  basis  of  the  colony.  The  scheme  of  English 
colonization  made  no  account  of  the  Indian  tribes. 
In  the  scheme  of  French  colonization  they  were  all 
in  all. 

In  one  point  the  plan  was  fatally  defective,  since 
it  involved  the  deadly  enmity  of  a  race  whose 
character  and  whose  power  were  as  yet  but  ill  un- 
derstood, —  the  fiercest,  boldest,  most  politic,  and 
most  ambitious  savages  to  whom  the  American 
forest  has  ever  given  birth. 


390  DISCOVERY   OF   LAKE   HURON.  11615. 

The  chiefs  and  warriors  met  in  council,  —  Algon- 
quins  of  the  Ottawa,  and  Hurons  from  the  borders 
of  the  great  Fresh- Water  Sea.  Champlain  prom- 
ised to  join  them  with  all  the  men  at  his  command, 
while  they,  on  their  part,  were  to  muster  without 
delay  twenty-five  hundred  warriors  for  an  inroad 
into  the  country  of  the  Iroquois.  He  descended  at 
once  to  Quebec  for  needful  preparation ;  but  when, 
after  a  short  delay,  he  returned  to  Montreal,  he 
found,  to  his  chagrin,  a  solitude.  The  wild  con- 
course had  vanished ;  nothing  remained  but  the 
skeleton  poles  of  their  huts,  the  smoke  of  their 
fires,  and  the  refuse  of  their  encampments.  Im- 
patient at  his  delay,  they  had  set  out  for  their 
villages,  and  with  them  had  gone  Father  Joseph 
le  Caron. 

Twelve  Frenchmen,  well  armed,  had  attended 
him.  Summer  was  at  its  height,  and  as  his  canoe 
stole  along  the  l^osom  of  the  glassy  river,  and  he 
gazed  about  him  on  the  tawny  multitude  whose 
fragile  craft  covered  the  water  like  swarms  of 
gliding  insects,  he  thought,  perhaps,  of  his  wdiite- 
washed  cell  in  the  convent  of  Brouage,  of  his  book, 
his  table,  his  rosary,  and  all  the  narrow  routine 
of  that  familiar  life  from  which  he  had  awakened 
to  contrasts  so  startling.  That  his  progress  up 
the  Ottawa  was  far  from  being  an  excursion  of 
pleasure  is  attested  by  his  letters,  fragments  of 
which  have  come  down  to  us. 

"  It  would  be  hard  to  tell  you,"  he  writes  to  a 
friend,  "  how  tired  I  was  with  paddling  all  day, 
with  all  my  strength,  among  the  Indians ;  wading 


i615.]  LE  CAEON'S  JOURNEY.  391 

the  rivers  a  liiindred  times  and  more,  through  the 
mud  and  over  the  sharp  rocks  that  cut  my  feet ; 
carrying  the  canoe  and  kiggage  through  the  woods 
to  avoid  the  rapids  and  frightful  cataracts ;  and 
half  starved  all  the  while,  for  we  had  nothing  to 
eat  but  a  little  sagamite,  a  sort  of  porridge  of 
water  and  pounded  maize,  of  which  they  gave  us 
a  very  small  allowance  every  morning  and  night. 
But  I  must  needs  tell  you  what  abundant  conso- 
lation I  found  under  all  my  troubles ;  for  when 
one  sees  so  many  infidels  needing  nothing  but  a 
drop  of  water  to  make  them  children  of  God, 
one  feels  an  inexpressible  ardor  to  labor  for  their 
conversion,  and  sacrifice  to  it  one's  repose  and 
life."  1 

Another  Recollet,  Gabriel  Sagard,  followed  the 
same  route  in  similar  company  a  few  years  later, 
and  has  left  an  account  of  his  experience,  of  which 
Le  Caron's  was  the  coimterpart.  Sagard  reckons 
from  eighty  to  a  hundred  waterfalls  and  rapids  in 
the  course  of  the  journey,  and  the  task  of  avoiding 
them  by  pushing  through  the  woods  was  the  harder 
for  him  because  he  saw  fit  to  go  barefoot,  "  in 
imitation  of  our  seraphic  father.  Saint  Francis." 
^'  We  often  came  upon  rocks,  mudholes,  and  fallen 

1  "...  .  Car  holas  quand  on  voit  un  si  grand  nombre  d'Infidels,  et 
qu'il  ne  tient  (ju'ri  une  goutte  d'eau  pour  les  rendre  enfaiis  de  Dieu,  on  res- 
sent  je  ne  S9ay  quelle  ardeur  de  travailler  a  leur  conversion  et  d'y  sacrifier 
son  repos  et  sa  vie.'i  Le  Caron,  in  Le  Clerc,  I.  74.  Le  Clerc,  usually  exact, 
affixes  a  wrong  date  to  Le  Caron's  departure,  which  took  place,  not  in  the 
autumn,  hut  about  the  first  of  July,  Champlain  following  on  the  ninth. 
Of  Champlain  the  editions  consulted  have  been  those  of  1620  and  1627, 
the  harrative  being  abridged  in  the  edition  of  1632.  Compare  Sagard, 
Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France. 


392  DISCOVEEY  OF   LAKE   HURON.  [1615. 

trees,  which  we  had  to  scramble  over,  and  some- 
times we  must  force  our  way  with  head  and  hands 
through  dense  woods  and  thickets,  without  road  or 
path.  When  tlie  time  came,  my  Indians  looked 
for  a  good  place  to  pass  the  night.  Some  went 
for  dry  wood  ;  others  for  poles  to  make  a  shed  ; 
others  kindled  a  fire,  and  hung  the  kettle  to  a 
stick  stuck  aslant  in  the  ground ;  and  others 
looked  for  two  flat  stones  to  bruise  the  Indian 
corn,  of  which  they  make  sagamite." 

This  sagamite  was  an  extremely  thin  porridge  ; 
and,  though  scraps  of  fish  were  now  and  then 
boiled  in  it,  the  friar  pined  away  daily  on  this 
weak  and  scanty  fare,  which  was,  moreover,  made 
repulsive  to  him  by  the  exceeding  filthiness  of  the 
cookery.  Nevertheless,  he  was  forced  to  disguise 
his  feelings.  "  One  must  always  keep  a  smiling, 
modest,  contented  face,  and  now  and  then  sing  a 
hymn,  both  for  his  own  consolation  and  to  please 
and  edify  the  savages,  who  take  a  singular  pleas- 
ure in  hearing  us  sing  the  praises  of  our  God." 
Among  all  his  trials,  none  afflicted  him  so  much 
as  the  flies  and  mosquitoes.  "  If  I  had  not  kept 
my  face  wrapped  in  a  cloth,  I  am  almost  sure  they 
would  have  blinded  me,  so  pestiferous  and  poison- 
ous are  the  bites  of  these  little  demons.  They 
make  one  look  like  a  leper,  hideous  to  the  sight. 
I  confess  that  this  is  the  worst  martyrdom  I  suf- 
fered in  this  country ;  hunger,  thirst,  weariness, 
and  fever  are  nothing  to  it.  These  little  beasts 
not  only  persecute  you  all  day,  but  at  night  they 
get  into  your  eyes  and  mouth,  crawl  under  your 


i615.]  CHAMPLAIN  AT  LAKE  NIPISSING.  393 

clothes,  or  stick  their  long  stings  through  them, 
and  make  such  a  noise  that  it  distracts  your  atten- 
tion, and  prevents  you  from  saying  your  prayers." 
He  reckons  three  or  four  kinds  of  them,  and  adds, 
that  in  the  Montagnais  country  there  is  still  an- 
other kind,  so  small  that  they  can  hardly  be  seen, 
but  which  "  bite  like  devils'  imps."  The  sports- 
man who  has  bivouacked  in  the  woods  of  Maine 
will  at  once  recognize  the  minute  tormentors  there 
known  as  '•'  no-see-'ems." 

While  through  tribulations  like  these  Le  Caron 
made  his  way  towards  the  scene  of  his  apostleship, 
Champlain  was  following  on  his  track.  With  two 
canoes,  ten  Indians,  Etienne  Brule  his  interpreter, 
and  another  Frenchman,  he  pushed  up  the  Ottawa 
till  he  reached  the  Algonquin  villages  which  had 
formed  the  term  of  his  former  journeying.  He 
passed  the  two  lakes  of  the  AUumettes ;  and  now, 
for  twenty  miles,  the  river  stretched  before  him, 
straight  as  the  bee  can  fly,  deep,  narrow,  and  black, 
between  its  mountain  shores.  He  passed  the  rap- 
ids of  the  Joachims  and  the  Caribou,  the  Rocher 
Capitaine,  and  the  Deux  Rivieres,  and  reached  at 
length  the  tributary  waters  of  the  Mattawan.  He 
turned  to  the  left,  ascended  this  little  stream  forty 
miles  or  more,  and,  crossing  a  portage  track,  well 
trodden,  reached  the  margin  of  Lake  Nipissing. 
The  canoes  were  launched  again,  and  glided  by 
leafy  shores  and  verdant  islands  till  at  length 
appeared  signs  of  human  life  and  clusters  of  bark 
lodges,  half  hidden  in  the  vastness  of  the  woods. 
It  was  the  village  of  an  Algonquin  band,  called 


394  DISCOVERY  OF  LAKE   HURON.  [1615. 

the  Nipissings,  —  a  race  so  beset  with  spirits,  in- 
fested by  demons,  and  abounding  in  magicians, 
that  the  Jesuits  afterwards  stigmatized  them  as 
"  the  Sorcerers."  In  this  questionable  company 
Champlain  spent  two  days,  feasted  on  fish,  deer, 
and  bears.  Then,  descending  to  the  outlet  of  the 
lake,  he  steered  his  canoes  westward  down  the 
current  of  French  River. 

Days  passed,  and  no  sign  of  man  enlivened  the 
rocky  desolation.  Hunger  was  pressing  them  hard, 
for  the  ten  gluttonous  Indians  had  devoured  al- 
ready nearly  all  their  provision  for  the  voyage, 
and  they  were  forced  to  subsist  on  the  blueberries 
and  wild  raspberries  that  grew  abundantly  in  the 
meagre  soil,  when  suddenly  they  encountered  a 
troop  of  three  hundred  savages,  whom,  from  their 
strange  and  startling  mode  of  wearing  their  hair, 
Champlain  named  the  Cheveux  Releves.  "  Not 
one  of  our  courtiers,"  he  says,  "  takes  so  much 
pains  in  dressing  his  locks."  Here,  however,  their 
care  of  the  toilet  ended ;  for,  though  tattooed  on 
various  parts  of  the  body,  painted,  and  armed  with 
bows,  arrows,  and  shields  of  bison-hide,  they  wore 
no  clothing  whatever.  Savage  as  was  their  aspect, 
they  were  busied  in  the  pacific  task  of  gathering 
blueberries  for  their  winter  store.  Their  demeanor 
was  friendly ;  and  from  them  the  voyager  learned 
that  the  great  lake  of  the  Hurons  was  close  at 
hand.^ 

1  These  savages  belonged  to  a  numerous  Algonquin  tribe  who  occupied 
a  district  west  and  southwest  of  the  Nottawassaga  Bay  of  Lake  Huron, 
within  the  modern  counties  of  Bruce  and  Grey,  Canada  West.  Sagard 
speaks  of  meeting  a  party  of  them  near  the  place  where  they  were  met  by 


16i5.]  FIRST  SIGHT  OF   THE  LAKE.  395 

Now,  far  along  the  western  sky  was  traced  the 
watery  line  of  that  inland  ocean,  and,  first  of  white 
men  except  the  Friar  Le  Caron,  Champlain  beheld 
the  "Mer  Douce,"  the  Fresh-Water  Sea  of  the 
Hurons.  Before  him,  too  far  for  sight,  lay  the 
spirit-haunted  Manitoualins,  and,  southward,  spread 
the  vast  bosom  of  the  Georgian  Bay.  For  more 
than  a  hundred  miles,  his  course  was  along  its 
eastern  shores,  among  islets  countless  as  the  sea- 
sands,  —  an  archipelago  of  rocks  worn  for  ages 
by  the  wash  of  waves.  He  crossed  Byng  Inlet, 
Franklin  Inlet,  Parry  Sound,  and  the  wider  bay  of 
Matchedash,  and  seems  to  have  landed  at  the  inlet 
now  called  Thunder  Bay,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Bay  of  Matchedash,  and  a  little  west  of  the  Harbor 
of  Penetanguishine. 

An  Indian  trail  led  inland,  through  woods  and 
thickets,  across  broad  meadows,  over  brooks,  and 
along  the  skirts  of  green  acclivities.  To  the  eye 
of  Champlain,  accustomed  to  the  desolation  he  had 
left  behind,  it  seemed  a  land  of  beauty  and  abun- 
dance. He  reached  at  last  a  broad  opening  in  the 
forest,  with  fields  of  maize,  pumpkins  ripening  in 
the  sun,  patches  of  sunflowers,  from  the  seeds  of 
which  the  Indians  made  hair-oil,  and,  in  the  midst, 
the  Huron  town  of   Otouacha.      In  all  essential 

Champlain.  Sagard,  Grand  Voyage  dj  Pai/s  des  Hurons,  77.  The  Hurons 
called  them  Oudataouaouat,  or  Ondatahouat,  whence  the  name  Ontaouat 
(Ottawa),  which  is  now  commonly  used  to  designate  a  particular  tribe,  or 
group  of  tribes,  but  which  the  French  often  employed  as  a  generic  term 
for  all  the  Algonquin  tribes  of  the  Upper  Lakes.  It  is  written  in  various 
forms  by  French  and  English  writers,  as  Outouais,  Outaouaks,  Taivaas, 
Oadauwaus,  Outaules,  Outaouacs,  Utawas,  Ottawwawwug,  Outtoaets,  Outta- 
waats,  Attawawas. 


396  DISCOVERY   OF   LAKE   HURON.  [1615. 

points,  it  resembled  that  which  Cartier,  eighty  years 
before,  had  seen  at  Montreal :  the  same  triple  pali- 
sade of  crossed  and  intersecting  trunks,  and  the 
same  long  lodges  of  bark,  each  containing  several 
families.  Here,  within  an  area  of  thirty  or  forty 
miles,  was  the  seat  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
savage  communities  on  the  continent.  By  the  In- 
dian standard,  it  was  a  mighty  nation ;  yet  the 
entire  Huron  population  did  not  exceed  that  of  a 
third  or  fourth  class  American  city.^ 

To  the  south  and  southeast  lay  other  tribes  of 
kindred  race  and  tongue,  all  stationary,  all  tillers 
of  the  soil,  and  all  in  a  state  of  social  advance- 
ment when  compared  with  the  roving  bands  of 
Eastern  Canada :  the  Neutral  Nation  ^  west  of  the 
Niagara,  and  the  Eries  and  Andastes  in  Western 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania ;  while  from  the 
Genesee  eastward  to  the  Hudson  lay  the  banded 
tribes  of  the  Iroquois,  leading  members  of  this 
potent  family,  deadly  foes  of  their  kindred,  and 
at  last  their  destroyers. 

In  Champlain  the  Hurons  saw  the  champion  who 
was  to  lead  them  to  victory.  There  was  bounti- 
ful feasting  in  his  honor  in  the  great  lodge  at 
Otouacha ;  and  other  welcome,  too,  was  tendered, 
of  which  the  Hurons  were  ever  liberal,  but  which, 

1  Champlain  estimates  the  number  of  Huron  villages  at  seventeen  or 
eighteen.  Le  Jeune,  Sagard,  and  Lalemant  afterwards  reckoned  them  at 
from  twenty  to  thirty-two.  Le  Clerc,  following  Le  Caron,  makes  the  popu- 
lation about  ten  thousand  souls;  but  several  later  observers,  as  well  as 
Champlain  himself,  set  it  at  above  thirty  thousand. 

2  A  warlike  people,  called  Neutral  from  their  neutrality  between  the 
Hurons  and  the  Iroquois,  which  did  not  save  them  from  sharing  the 
destruction  which  overwhelmed  the  former. 


1615.]  THE  FIKST  MASS.  397 

with  all  courtesy,  was  declined  by  the  virtuous 
Champlain.  Next,  he  went  to  Carmaron,  a  league 
distant,  and  then  to  Touaguainchain  and  Teque- 
nonquihaye ;  till  at  length  he  reached  Carhagouha, 
with  its  triple  palisade  thirty-five  feet  high.  Here 
he  found  Le  Caron.  The  Indians,  eager  to  do  him 
honor,  were  building  for  him  a  bark  lodge  in  the 
neighboring  forest,  fashioned  like  their  own,  but 
much  smaller.  In  it  the  friar  made  an  altar, 
garnished  with  those  indispensable  decorations 
which  he  had  brought  with  him  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  his  painful  journeying ;  and  hither, 
night  and  day,  came  a  curious  multitude  to  listen 
to  his  annunciation  of  the  new  doctrine.  It  was 
a  joyful  hour  when  he  saw  Champlain  approach 
his  hermitage ;  and  the  two  men  embraced  like 
brothers  long  sundered. 

The  twelfth  of  August  was  a  day  evermore 
marked  with  white  in  the  friar's  calendar.  Ar- 
rayed in  priestly  vestments,  he  stood  before  his 
simple  altar ;  behind  him  his  little  band  of  Chris- 
tians, —  the  twelve  Frenchmen  who  had  attended 
him,  and  the  two  who  had  followed  Champlain. 
Here  stood  their  devout  and  valiant  chief,  and,  at 
his  side,  that  pioneer  of  pioneers,  Etienne  Brule, 
the  interpreter.  The  Host  was  raised  aloft ;  the 
worshippers  kneeled.  Then  their  rough  voices 
joined  in  the  hymn  of  praise,  Te  Deum  laudamus ; 
and  then  a  volley  of  their  guns  proclaimed  the  tri- 
umph of  the  faith,  to  the  okies,  the  manitous,  and 
all  the  brood  of  anomalous  devils  who  had  reigned 
with   undisputed   sway   in   these  wild   realms   of 


398  DISCOVERY  OF   LAKE   HURON.  [1615. 

darkness.  The  brave  friar,  a  true  soldier  of  the 
Church,  had  led  her  forlorn  hope  into  the  fast- 
nesses of  hell ;  and  now,  with  contented  heart,  he 
might  depart  in  peace,  for  he  had  said  the  first 
mass  in  the  country  of  the  Hurons. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1615,  1616. 

THE  GREAT  WAR  PARTY. 

Muster  of  Warriors.  —  Departure.  —  The  River  Trent.  —  Lake 
Ontario.  —  The  Iroquois  Town.  —  Attack.  —  Repulse. —  Cham- 
plain  WOUNDED.  —  Retreat.  —  Adventures  of  Etienne  Brule. 
— WiNTKR  Hunt.  —  Champlain  lost  in  the  Forest.  —  Made  Um- 
pire of  Indian  Quarrels. 

The  lot  of  the  favored  guest  of  an  Indian  camp 
or  village  is  idleness  without  repose,  for  he  is 
never  left  alone,  and  the  repletion  of  incessant 
and  inevitable  feasts.  Tired  of  this  inane  routine, 
Champlain,  with  some  of  his  Frenchmen,  set  forth 
on  a  tour  of  observation.  Journeying  at  their 
ease  by  the  Indian  trails,  they  visited,  in  three 
days,  five  palisaded  villages.  The  country  de- 
lighted them,  with  its  meadows,  its  deep  woods, 
its  pine  and  cedar  thickets,  full  of  hares  and 
partridges,  its  wild  grapes  and  plums,  cherries, 
crab-apples,  nuts,  and  raspberries.  It  was  the 
seventeenth  of  August  when  they  reached  the 
Huron  metropolis,  Cahiague,  in  the  modern  town- 
ship of  Orillia,  three  leagues  west  of  the  river 
Severn,  by  which  Lake  Simcoe  pours  its  waters 
into  the  bay  of  Matchedash.  A  shrill  clamor  of 
rejoicing,  the  fixed  stare  of  wondering  squaws, 
and   the    screaming   flight    of    terrified   children, 


400  THE   GREAT   WAR  PARTY.  fl615. 

hailed  the  arrival  of  Champlain.  By  his  esti- 
mate, the  place  contained  two  hundred  lodges ; 
but  they  must  have  been  relatively  small,  since, 
had  they  been  of  the  enormous  capacity  some- 
times found  in  these  structures,  Cahiague  alone 
would  have  held  the  whole  Huron  population. 
Here  was  the  chief  rendezvous,  and  the  town 
swarmed  with  gathering  warriors.  There  was 
cheering  news ;  for  an  allied  nation,  called  Ca- 
rantouans,  probably  identical  with  the  Andastes, 
had  promised  to  join  the  Hurons  in  the  enemy's 
country,  with  five  hundred  men.^  Feasts  and  the 
war-dance  consumed  the  days,  till  at  length  the 
tardy  bands  had  all  arrived ;  and,  shouldering 
their  canoes  and  scanty  baggage,  the  naked  host 
set  forth. 

At  the  outlet  of  Lake  Simcoe  they  all  stopped 
to  fish,  —  their  simple  substitute  for  a  commissa- 
riat. Hence,  too,  the  intrepid  Etienne  Brule,  at 
his  own  request,  was  sent  with  twelve  Indians  to 
hasten  forward  the  five  hundred  allied  warriors, 
a  dangerous  venture,  since  his  course  must  lie 
through  the  borders  of  the  Iroquois. 

He  set  out  on  the  eighth  of  September,  and  on 
the  morning  of  the  tenth,  Champlain,  shivering  in 
his  blanket,  awoke  to  see  the  meadows  sparkling 
with  an  early  frost,  soon  to  vanish  under  tlie 
bright  autumnal  sun.  The  Huron  fleet  pursued  its 
course  along  Lake  Simcoe,  across  the  portage  to 

^  Champlain,  (1627,)  31.  While  the  French  were  aiding  the  Hurons 
against  the  Iroquois,  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  aided  the  Iroquois  against 
this  nation  of  allies,  who  captured  throe  Dutcliraeu,  but  are  said  to  have 
set  them  free  in  the  belief  that  they  were  French.    Ibid. 


1615.]  A  DEER  HUNT.  401 

Balsam  or  Sturgeon  Lake,  and  down  the  chain  of 
lakes  which  form  the  sources  of  the  river  Trent. 
As  the  long  line  of  canoes  moved  on  its  way,  no 
human  life  was  seen,  no  sign  of  friend  or  foe ;  yet, 
at  times,  to  the  fancy  of  Champlain,  the  borders 
of  the  stream  seemed  decked  with  groves  and 
shrubbery  by  the  hands  of  man,  and  the  walnut 
trees,  laced  with  grape-vines,  seemed  decorations 
of  a  pleasure-ground. 

They  stopped  and  encamped  for  a  deer  hunt. 
Five  hundred  Indians,  in  line,  like  the  skirmishers 
of  an  army  advancing  to  battle,  drove  the  game  to 
the  end  of  a  woody  point ;  and  the  canoe-men 
killed  them  with  spears  and  arrows  as  they  took 
to  the  river.  Champlain  and  his  men  keenly  rel- 
ished the  sport,  but  paid  a  heavy  price  for  their 
pleasure.  A  Frenchman,  firing  at  a  buck,  brought 
down  an  Indian,  and  there  was  need  of  liberal 
gifts  to  console  the  sufferer  and  his  friends. 

The  canoes  now  issued  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Trent.  Like  a  flock  of  venturous  wild-fowl,  they 
put  boldly  out  upon  Lake  Ontario,  crossed  it  in 
safety,  and  landed  within  the  borders  of  New 
York,  on  or  near  the  point  of  land  west  of  Hun- 
gry Bay.  After  hiding  their  light  craft  in  the 
woods,  the  warriors  took  up  their  swift  and  wary 
march,  filing  in  silence  between  the  woods  and  the 
lake,  for  four  leagues  along  the  strand.  Then 
they  struck  inland,  threaded  the  forest,  crossed  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Oneida,  and  after  a  march  of  four 
days,  were  deep  within  the  limits  of  the  Iroquois. 
On  the  ninth  of  October  some  of  their  scouts  met 

26 


402  THE   GREAT   WAR  PARTY.  [1615. 

a  fishing-party  of  this  people,  and  captured  them, 
eleven  in  number,  men,  women,  and  children.  They 
were  brought  to  the  camp  of  the  exultant  Hurons. 
As  a  beginning  of  the  jubilation,  a  chief  cut  off  a 
finger  of  one  of  the  women ;  but  desisted  from 
further  torturing  on  the  angry  protest  of  Cham- 
plain,  reserving  that  pleasure  for  a  more  conve- 
nient season. 

On  the  next  day  they  reached  an  open  space  in 
the  forest.  The  hostile  town  was  close  at  hand, 
surrounded  by  rugged  fields  with  a  slovenly  and 
savage  cultivation.  The  young  Hurons  in  advance 
saw  the  Iroquois  at  work  among  the  pumpkins  and 
maize,  gathering  their  rustling  harvest.  Nothing 
could  restrain  the  hare-brained  and  ungoverned 
crew.  They  screamed  their  war-cry  and  rushed 
in ;  but  the  Iroquois  snatched  their  weapons,  killed 
and  wounded  five  or  six  of  the  assailants,  and 
drove  back  the  rest  discomfited.  Champlain  and 
his  Frenchmen  were  forced  to  interpose ;  and  the 
report  of  their  pieces  from  the  border  of  the  woods 
stopped  the  pursuing  enemy,  who  withdrew  to 
their  defences,  bearing  with  them  their  dead  and 
wounded.^ 

It  appears  to  have  been  a  fortified  town  of  the 
Onondagas,  the  central  tribe  of  the  Iroquois  con- 
federacy, standing,  there  is  some  reason  to  believe, 
within  the  limits  of  Madison  County,  a  few  miles 
south  of  Lake  Oneida.^     Champlain  describes  its 

1  Le  Clerc  (I.  79-87)  gives  a  few  particulars  not  mentioned  by  Cham- 
plain, whose  account  will  be  found  in  the  editions  of  1620,  1627,  and  1632. 

2  Cliamplaiu  calls  the  tribe  Antouoronons,  Antouhouorous,  or  Entou- 
honorous.     I  at  first  supposed  them  to  be  the  Senecas,  but  further  inquiry 


1615.]  IROQUOIS  FORTIFICATION.  403 

defensive  works  as  much  stronger  than  those  of 
the  Huron  villages.  They  consisted  of  four  con- 
centric rows  of  palisades,  formed  of  trunks  of 
trees,  thirty  feet  high,  set  aslant  in  the  earth,  and 
intersecting  each  other  near  the  top,  where  they 
supported  a  kind  of  gallery,  well  defended  by  shot- 
proof  timber,  and  furnished  with  wooden  gutters 
for  quenching  fire.  A  pond  or  lake,  which  washed 
one  side  of  the  palisade,  and  was  led  by  sluices 
within  the  town,  gave  an  ample  supply  of  water, 
while  the  galleries  were  well  provided  with  maga- 
zines of  stones. 

Champlain  was  greatly  exasperated  at  the  des- 
ultory and  futile  procedure  of  his  Huron  allies. 
Against  his  advice,  they  now  withdrew  to  the  dis- 
tance of  a  cannon-shot  from  the  fort,  and  en- 
camped in  the  forest,  out  of  sight  of  the  enemy. 
"  I  was  moved,"  he  says,  "  to  speak  to  them 
roughly  and  harshly  enough,  in  order  to  incite 
them  to  do  their  duty,  for  I  foresaw  that,  if  things 
went  according  to  their  fancy,  nothing  but  harm 
could  come  of  it,  to  their  loss  and  ruin."  He 
proceeded,  therefore,  to  instruct  them  in  the  art 
of  war. 

leads  me  to  believe  that  they  were  the  Onondagas.  Mr.  O.  H.  Marshall 
thinks  that  the  town  was  on  Lake  Onondaga,  and  supports  his  opinion  in 
an  excellent  article  in  the  Mcujazine  of  American  Histortf.  General  John 
S.  Clark  has,  however,  shown  that  the  site  of  an  ancient  Indian  fort  on 
Nichols  Pond,  in  the  town  of  Tenner,  Madison  County,  fulfils  the  conditions 
sufficiently  to  give  some  countenance  to  the  supposition  of  its  identity  with 
that  described  by  Champlain.  A  plan  of  the  locality  was  kindly  sent  me 
by  Mr.  L.  W.  Ledyard,  and  another  by  Rev.  W.  M.  Beauchanip,  whose 
careful  examination  of  the  spot  confirms  but  partially  the  conclusions  of 
General  Clark.  Champlain's  drawing  of  the  fort  was  clearly  made  from 
memory,  and  contains  obvious  inaccuracies. 


404  THE  GREAT  WAE  PARTY.  [1615. 

In  the  morning,  aided  doubtless  by  his  ten  or 
twelve  Frenchmen,  they  set  themselves  with  alac- 
rity to  their  prescribed  task.  A  wooden  tower 
was  made,  high  enough  to  overlook  the  palisade, 
and  large  enough  to  shelter  four  or  five  marksmen. 
Huge  wooden  shields,  or  movable  parapets,  like 
the  mantelets  of  the  Middle  Ages,  were  also  con- 
structed. Four  hours  sufficed  to  finish  the  work, ' 
and  then  the  assault  began.  Two  hundred  of  the 
strongest  warriors  dragged  the  tower  forward,  and 
planted  it  within  a  pike's  length  of  the  palisade. 
Three  arquebusiers  mounted  to  the  top,  where, 
themselves  well  sheltered,  they  opened  a  raking 
fire  along  the  galleries,  now  thronged  with  wild 
and  naked  defenders.  But  nothing  could  restrain 
the  ungovernable  Hurons.  They  abandoned  their 
mantelets,  and,  deaf  to  every  command,  swarmed 
out  like  bees  upon  the  open  field,  leaped,  shouted, 
shrieked  their  war-cries,  and  shot  off  their  arrows ; 
while  the  Iroquois,  yelling  defiance  from  their 
ramparts,  sent  back  a  shower  of  stones  and  arrows 
in  reply.  A  Huron,  bolder  than  the  rest,  ran  for- 
ward with  firebrands  to  burn  the  palisade,  and 
others  followed  with  wood  to  feed  the  flame.  But 
it  was  stupidly  kindled  on  the  leeward  side,  with- 
out the  protecting  shields  designed  to  cover  it ; 
and  torrents  of  water,  poured  down  from  the  gut- 
ters above,  quickly  extinguished  it.  The  confusion 
was  redoubled.  Champlain  strove  in  vain  to  re- 
store order.  Each  warrior  was  yelling  at  the  top 
of  his  throat,  and  his  voice  was  drowned  in  the 
outrageous  din.     Thinking,  as  he  says,  that  his 


1615.]  CHAMPLAIN   WOUNDED.  405 

head  would  split  with  shouting,  he  gave  over  the 
attempt,  and  busied  himself  and  his  men  with 
picking  off  the  Iroquois  along  their  ramparts. 

The  attack  lasted  three  hours,  when  the  assail- 
ants fell  back  to  their  fortified  camp,  with  seven- 
teen warriors  wounded.  Cham^^lain,  too,  had 
received  an  arrow  in  the  knee,  and  another  in 
the  leg,  which,  for  the  time,  disabled  him.  He 
was  urgent,  however,  to  renew  the  attack ;  while 
the  Hurons,  crestfallen  and  disheartened,  refused 
to  move  from  their  camp  unless  the  five  hundred 
allies, .  for  some  time  expected,  should  appear. 
They  waited  five  days  in  vain,  beguiling  the  in- 
terval with  frequent  skirmishes,  in  which  they 
were  always  worsted ;  then  began  hastily  to  re- 
treat, carrying  their  wounded  in  the  centre,  while 
the  Iroquois,  sallying  from  their  stronghold, 
showered  arrows  on  their  flanks  and  rear.  The 
wounded,  Champlain  among  the  rest,  after  being 
packed  in  baskets  made  on  the  spot,  were  carried 
each  on  the  back  of  a  strong  warrior,  "bundled 
in  a  heap,"  says  Champlain,  "  doubled  and  strapped 
together  after  such  a  fashion  that  one  could  move 
no  more  than  an  infant  in  swaddlino:-clothes.  The 
pain  is  extreme,  as  I  can  truly  say  from  experi- 
ence, having  been  carried  several  days  in  this  way, 
since  I  could  not  stand,  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
arrow-wound  I  had  got  in  the  knee.  I  never  was 
in  such  torment  in  my  life,  for  the  pain  of  the 
wound  was  nothing  to  that  of  being  bound  and 
pinioned  on  the  back  of  one  of  our  savages.  I 
lost  patience,  and  as  soon  as    I  could   bear  my 


406  THE   GREAT   WAR   PARTY.  [1615. 

weight  I  got  out  of  this  prison,  or  rather  out  of 
hell."i 

At  length  the  dismal  inarch  was  ended.  They 
reached  the  spot  where  their  canoes  were  hidden, 
found  them  untouched,  embarked,  and  recrossed 
to  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario.  The  Hu- 
rons  had  promised  Champlain  an  escort  to  Quebec ; 
but  as  the  chiefs  had  little  power,  in  peace  or  war, 
beyond  that  of  persuasion,  each  warrior  found  good 
reasons  for  refusing  to  lend  his  canoe.  Champlain, 
too,  had  lost  prestige.  The  "  man  with  the  iron 
breast"  had  proved  not  inseparably  wedded  to 
victory ;  and  though  the  fault  was  their  own,  yet 
not  the  less  was  the  -lustre  of  their  hero  tarnished. 
There  was  no  alternative.  He  must  winter  with 
the  Hurons.  The  great  war  party  broke  into  frag- 
ments, each  band  betaking  itself  to  its  hunting- 
ground.  A  chief  named  Durantal,  or  Darontal,^ 
offered  Champlain  the  shelter  of  his  lodge,  and  he 
was  glad  to  accept  it. 

Meanwhile,  Etienne  Brule  had  found  cause  to 
rue  the  hour  when  he  undertook  his  hazardous 
mission  to  the  Carantouan  allies.  Three  years 
passed  before  Champlain  saw  him.  It  was  in  the 
summer  of  1618,  that,  reaching  the  Saut  St^  Louis, 
he  there  found  the  interpreter,  his  hands  and  his 
swarthy  face  marked  with  traces  of  the  ordeal  he 
had  passed.     Brule  then  told  him  his  story. 

He  had  gone,  as  already  mentioned,  with  twelve 

1  Champlain,  (1627,)  46.  lu  the  edition  of  1632  there  are  some  omis- 
sions and  verbal  changes  in  this  part  of  the  narrative. 

2  Champlain,  with  his  usual  carelessness,  calls  him  by  either  name  in- 
differently. 


1616.]  :feTIENNE  BRULlfc.  407 

Indians,  to  hasten  the  march  of  the  allies,  who 
were  to  join  the  Hurons  before  the  hostile  town. 
Crossing  Lake  Ontario,  the  party  pushed  onward 
with  all  speed,  avoiding  trails,  threading  the  thick- 
est forests  and  darkest  swamps,  for  it  was  the 
land  of  the  fierce  and  watchful  Iroquois.  They 
were  well  advanced  on  their  way  when  they  saw 
a  small  party  of  them  crossing  a  meadow,  set  upon 
them,  surprised  them,  killed  four,  and  took  two 
prisoners,  whom  they  led  to  Carantouan,  a  pali- 
saded town  with  a  population  of  eight  hundred 
warriors,  or  about  four  thousand  souls.  The 
dwellings  and  defences  were  like  those  of  the 
Hurons,  and  the  town  seems  to  have  stood  on  or 
near  the  upper  waters  of  the  Susquehanna.  They 
were  welcomed  with  feasts,  dances,  and  an  uproar 
of  rejoicing.  The  five  hundred  warriors  prepared 
to  depart,  but,  engrossed  by  the  general  festivity, 
they  prepared  so  slowly,  that,  though  the  hostile 
town  was  but  three  days  distant,  they  found  on 
reaching  it  that  the  besiegers  were  gone.  Brule 
now  returned  with  them  to  Carantouan,  and,  with 
enterprise  worthy  of  his  commander,  spent  the 
winter  in  a  tour  of  exploration.  Descending  a 
river,  evidently  the  Susquehanna,  he  followed  it 
to  its  junction  with  the  sea,  through  territories  of 
populous  tribes,  at  war  the  one  with  the  other. 
When,  in  the  spring,  he  returned  to  Carantouan, 
five  or  six  of  the  Indians  offered  to  guide  him 
towards  his  countrymen.  Less  fortunate  than  be- 
fore, he  encountered  on  the  way  a  band  of  Iro- 
quois, who,  rushing  upon  the  party,  scattered  them 


408  THE  GREAT  WAR  PARTY.  [1616. 

through  the  woods.  Brule  ran  like  the  rest.  The 
cries  of  pursuers  and  pursued  died  away  in  the 
distance.  The  forest  was  silent  around  him.  He 
was  lost  in  the  shady  labyrinth.  For  three  or  four 
days  he  wandered,  helpless  and  famished,  till  at 
length  he  found  an  Indian  foot-path,  and,  choosing 
between  starvation  and  the  Iroquois,  desperately 
followed  it  to  throw  himself  on  their  mercy.  He 
soon  saw  three  Indians  in  the  distance,  laden  with 
fish  newly  caught,  and  called  to  them  in  the  Hu- 
ron tongue,  which  was  radically  similar  to  that  of 
the  Iroquois.  They  stood  amazed,  then  turned  to 
fly ;  but  Brule,  gaunt  with  famine,  flung  down  his 
weapons  in  token  of  friendship.  They  now  drew 
near,  listened  to  the  story  of  his  distress,  lighted 
their  pipes,  and  smoked  with  him ;  then  guided 
him  to  their  village,  and  gave  him  food. 

A  crowd  gathered  about  him.  "  Whence  do  you 
come  ?  Are  you  not  one  of  the  Frenchmen,  the 
men  of  iron,  who  make  war  on  us?" 

Brule  answered  that  he  was  of  a  nation  better 
than  the  French,  and  fast  friends  of  the  Iroquois. 

His  incredulous  captors  tied  him  to  a  tree,  tore 
out  his  beard  by  handfuls,  and  burned  him  with 
firebrands,  while  their  chief  vainly  interposed  in 
his  behalf.  He  was  a  good  Catholic,  and  wore 
an  Agnus  Dei  at  his  breast.  One  of  his  torturers 
asked  what  it  was,  and  thrust  out  his  hand  to 
take  it. 

"  If  you  touch  it,"  exclaimed  Brul^,  "  you  and 
all  your  race  will  die." 

The  Indian  persisted.      The  day  was  hot,   and 


1616.]  :fcTIENNE  BRUL^.  409 

one  of  those  thunder-gusts  which  often  succeed 
the  fierce  heats  of  an  American  midsummer  was 
rising  against  the  sky.  Brule  pointed  to  the  inky 
clouds  as  tokens  of  the  anger  of  his  God.  The 
storm  broke,  and,  as  the  celestial  artillery  boomed 
over  their  darkening  forests,  the  Iroquois  were 
stricken  with  a  superstitious  terror.  They  all  fled 
from  the  spot,  leaving  their  victim  still  bound  fast, 
until  the  chief  who  had  endeavored  to  protect  him 
returned,  cut  the  cords,  led  him  to  his  lodge,  and 
dressed  his  wounds.  Thenceforth  there  was  neither 
dance  nor  feast  to  which  Brule  was  not  invited ; 
and  when  he  wished  to  return  to  his  countrymen, 
a  party  of  Iroquois  guided  him  four  days  on  his 
way.  He  reached  the  friendly  Hurons  in  safety, 
and  joined  them  on  their  yearly  descent  to  meet 
the  French  traders  at  Montreal.-^ 

Brule's  adventures  find  in  some  points  their 
counterpart  in  those  of  his  commander  on  the 
winter  hunting-grounds  of  his  Huron  allies.  As 
we  turn  the  ancient,  worm-eaten  page  which  pre- 
serves the  simple  record  of  his  fortunes,  a  wild 
and  dreary  scene  rises  before  the  mind,  —  a  chill 

1  The  story  of  Etienne  Brule,  whose  name  may  possibly  allude  to  the 
fiery  ordeal  through  which  he  had  passed,  is  in  Champlain's  narrative  of 
his  voyage  of  1618.  It  will  be  found  in  the  edition  of  1627,  but  is  omitted 
in  the  condensed  edition  of  1632.     It  is  also  told  by  Sagard. 

Brule  met  a  lamentable  fate.  In  1 632  he  was  treacherously  murdered 
by  Hurons  at  one  of  their  villages  near  Penetanguishine.  Several  years 
after,  when  the  Huron  country  was  ravaged  and  half  depopulated  by  aa 
epidemic,  the  Indians  believed  that  it  was  caused  by  the  French  in  re- 
venge for  his  death,  and  a  renowned  sorcerer  averred  that  he  had  seen 
a  sister  of  the  murdered  man  flying  over  their  country,  breathing  forth 
pestilence  and  death.  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  34;  Bre'beuf,  Relation  des 
fluiwis,  1635,  28;   1637,  160,  167  (Quebec,  1858). 


410  THE   GREAT   WAR  PARTY.  [1615. 

November  air,  a  murky  sky,  a  cold  lake,  bare 
and  shivering  forests,  the  earth  strewn  with  crisp 
brown  leaves^  and,  by  the  water-side,  the  bark 
sheds  and  smoking  camp-fires  of  a  band  of  Indian 
hunters.  Champlain  was  of  the  party.  There 
was  ample  occupation  for  his  gun,  for  the  morn- 
ing was  vocal  with  the  clamor  of  wild-fowl,  and 
his  evening  meal  was  enlivened  by  the  rueful 
music  of  the  wolves.  It  was  a  lake  north  or 
northwest  of  the  site  of  Kingston.  On  the  bor- 
ders of  a  neighboring  river,  twenty-five  of  the 
Indians  had  been  busied  ten  days  in  preparing  for 
their  annual  deer-hunt.  They  planted  posts  inter- 
laced with  boughs  in  two  straight  converging  lines, 
each  extending  more  than  half  a  mile  through 
forests  and  swamps.  At  the  angle  where  they 
met  was  made  a  strong  enclosure  like  a  pound. 
At  dawn  of  day  the  hunters  spread  themselves 
through  the  woods,  and  advanced  with  shouts, 
clattering  of  sticks,  and  bowlings  like  those  of 
wolves,  driving  the  deer  before  them  into  the  en- 
closure, where  others  lay  in  wait  to  despatch  them 
with  arrows  and  spears. 

Champlain  was  in  the  woods  with  the  rest,  when 
he  saw  a  bird  whose  novel  appearance  excited  his 
attention ;  and,  gun  in  hand,  he  went  in  pursuit. 
The  bird,  flitting  from  tree  to  tree,  lured  him  deeper 
and  deeper  into  the  forest ;  then  took  wing  and 
vanished.  The  disappointed  sportsman  tried  to 
retrace  his  steps.  But  the  day  was  clouded,  and 
he  had  left  his  pocket-compass  at  the  camp.  The 
forest  closed  around  him,  trees  mingled  with  trees 


1615.]  CHAMPLAIN  LOST  IN  THE   WOODS.  411 

in  endless  confusion.  Bewildered  and  lost,  lie 
wandered  all  day,  and  at  night  slept  fasting  at  the 
foot  of  a  tree.  Awaking,  he  wandered  on  till 
afternoon,  when  he  reached  a  pond  slumbering  in 
the  shadow  of  the  woods.  There  were  water-fowl 
along  its  brink,  some  of  which  he  shot,  and  for 
the  first  time  found  food  to  allay  his  hunger.  He 
kindled  a  fire,  cooked  his  game,  and,  exhausted, 
blanketless,  drenched  by  a  cold  rain,  made  his 
prayer  to  Heaven,  and  again  lay  down  to  sleep. 
Another  day  of  blind  and  weary  wandering  suc- 
ceeded, and  another  night  of  exhaustion.  He  had 
found  paths  in  the  wilderness,  but  they  were  not 
made  by  human  feet.  Once  more  roused  from  his 
shivering  repose,  he  journeyed  on  till  he  heard  the 
tinkling  of  a  little  brook,  and  bethought  him  of 
following  its  guidance,  in  the  hope  that  it  might 
lead  him  to  the  river  where  the  hunters  were 
now  encamped.  With  toilsome  steps  he  followed 
the  infant  stream,  now  lost  beneath  the  decaying 
masses  of  fallen  trunks  or  the  impervious  intri- 
cacies of  matted  "'  windfalls,"  now  stealing  through 
swampy  thickets  or  gurgling  in  the  shade  of  rocks, 
till  it  entered  at  length,  not  into  the  river,  but  into 
a  small  lake.  Circling  around  the  brink,  he  found 
the  point  where  the  brook  ran  out  and  resumed 
its  course.  Listening  in  the  dead  stillness  of  the 
woods,  a  dull,  hoarse  sound  rose  upon  his  ear.  He 
went  forward,  listened  again,  and  could  plainly 
hear  the  plunge  of  waters.  There  was  light  in 
the  forest  before  him,  and,  thrusting  himself 
through  the  entanglement  of  bushes  he  stood  on 


412  THE  GREAT  WAR  PARTY.  [1615. 

the  edge  of  a  meadow.  Wild  animals  were  here 
of  various  kinds ;  some  skulking  in  the  bordering 
thickets,  some  browsing  on  the  dry  and  matted 
grass.  On  his  right  rolled  the  river,  wide  and 
turbulent,  and  along  its  bank  he  saw  the  portage 
path  by  which  the  Indians  passed  the  neighboring 
rapids.  He  gazed  about  him.  The  rocky  hills 
seemed  familiar  to  his  eye.  A  clue  was  found  at 
last ;  and,  kindling  his  evening  fire,  with  grateful 
heart  he  broke  a  long  fast  on  the  game  he  hac^ 
killed.  With  the  break  of  day  he  descended  at 
his  ease  along  the  bank,  and  soon  descried  the 
smoke  of  the  Indian  fires  curling  in  the  heavy 
morning  air  against  the  gray  borders  of  the  forest. 
The  joy  was  great  on  both  sides.  The  Indians 
had  searched  for  him  without  ceasing ;  and  from 
that  day  forth  his  host,  Durantal,  would  never 
let  him  go  into  the  forest  alone. 

They  were  thirty-eight  days  encamped  on  this 
nameless  river,  and  killed  in  that  time  a  hundred 
and  twenty  deer.  Hard  frosts  were  needful  to  give 
them  passage  over  the  land  of  lakes  and  marshes 
that  lay  between  them  and  the  Huron  towns. 
Therefore  they  lay  waiting  till  the  fourth  of 
December ;  when  the  frost  came,  bridged  the  lakes 
and  streams,  and  made  the  oozy  marsh  as  firm  as 
granite.  Snow  followed,  powdering  the  broad 
wastes  with  dreary  white.  Then  they  broke  up 
their  camp,  packed  their  game  on  sledges  or 
on  their  shoulders,  tied  on  their  snow-shoes,  and 
began  their  march.  Champlain  could  scarcely  en- 
dure his  load,  though  some  of  the  Indians  carried 


1616.]  WINTER  JOURNEYING.  413 

a  weight  fivefold  greater.  At  night,  they  heard 
the  cleaving  ice  uttering  its  strange  groans  of  tor- 
ment, and  on  the  morrow  there  came  a  thaw. 
For  four  days  they  waded  through  slush  and  water 
up  to  their  knees ;  then  came  the  shivering  north- 
west wind,  and  all  was  hard  again.  In  nineteen 
days  they  reached  the  town  of  Cahiague,  and, 
lounging  around  their  smoky  lodge-fires,  the  hun- 
ters forgot  the  hardships  of  the  past. 

For  Champlain  there  was  no  rest.  A  double 
motive  urged  him,  —  discovery,  and  the  strength- 
ening of  his  colony  by  widening  its  circle  of  trade. 
First,  he  repaired  to  Carhagouha ;  and  here  he 
found  the  friar,  in  his  hermitage,  still  praying, 
preaching,  making  catechisms,  and  struggling  with 
the  manifold  difficulties  of  the  Huron  tongue.  Af- 
ter spending  several  weeks  together,  they  began 
their  journeyings,  and  in  three  days  reached  the 
chief  village  of  the  Nation  of  Tobacco,  a  powerful 
tribe  akin  to  the  Hurons,  and  soon  to  be  incorpo- 
rated with  them.^  The  travellers  visited  seven  of 
their  towns,  and  then  passed  westward  to  those  of 
the  people  whom  Champlain  calls  the  Cheveux  Rele- 
ves,  and  whom  he  commends  for  neatness  and  inge- 
nuity no  less  than  he  condemns  them  for  the  nullity 
of  their  summer  attire.^  As  the  strangers  passed 
from  town  to  town,  their  arrival  was  everywhere 
the  signal  of  festivity.  Champlain  exchanged 
pledges  of  amity  with  his  hosts,  and  urged  them  to 

^  The  Dionondadies,   Petuneux,  or  Nation  of  Tobacco,   had  till   re- 
cently, according  to  Lalemant,  been  at  war  with  the  Hurons. 
'■2  See  ante,  p.  394. 


414  THE   GREAT   WAR  PARTY.  [1616. 

come  down  with  the  Hurons  to  the  yearly  trade  at 
Montreal. 

Spring  was  now  advancing,  and,  anxions  for  his 
colony,  he  turned  homeward,  following  that  long 
circuit  of  Lake  Huron  and  the  Ottawa  which  Iro- 
quois hostility  made  the  only  practicable  route. 
Scarcely  had  he  reached  the  Nipissings,  and  gained 
from  them  a  pledge  to  guide  him  to  that  delusive 
northern  sea  which  never  ceased  to  possess  his 
thoughts,  when  evil  news  called  him  back  in  haste 
to  the  Huron  towns.  A  band  of  those  Algonquins 
who  dwelt  on  the  great  island  in  the  Ottawa  had 
spent  the  winter  encamped  near  Cahiague,  whose 
inhabitants  made  them  a  present  of  an  Iroquois 
prisoner,  with  the  friendly  intention  that  they 
should  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  torturing  him.  The 
Algonquins,  on  the  contrary,  fed,  clothed,  and 
adopted  him.  On  this,  the  donors,  in  a  rage,  sent 
a  warrior  to  kill  the  Iroquois.  He  stabbed  him, 
accordingly,  in  the  midst  of  the  Algonquin  chiefs, 
who  in  requital  killed  the  murderer.  Here  was  a 
casus  belli  involving  most  serious  issues  for  the 
French,  since  the  Algonquins,  by  their  position  on 
the  Ottawa,  could  cut  off  the  Hurons  and  all  their 
allies  from  coming  down  to  trade.  Already  a  fight 
had  taken  place  at  Cahiague ;  the  principal  Algon- 
quin chief  had  been  wounded,  and  his  band  forced 
to  purchase  safety  by  a  heavy  tribute  of  wampum^ 
and  a  gift  of  two  female  prisoners. 

1  Wampum  was  a  sort  of  beads,  of  several  colors,  made  originally  by 
the  Indians  from  the  inner  portion  of  certain  shells,  and  afterwards  by 
the  French  of  porcelain  and  glass.     It  served  a  treble  purpose,  —  that  of 


1616.]  EETUKN  TO  QUEBEC.  415 

All  eyes  turned  to  Champlain  as  umpire  of  the 
quarrel.  The  great  council-house  was  filled  with 
Huron  and  Algonquin  chiefs,  smoking  with  that 
immobility  of  feature  beneath  which  their  race  often 
hide  a  more  than  tiger-like  ferocity.  The  umpire 
addressed  the  assembly,  enlarged  on  the  folly  of 
falling  to  blows  between  themselves  when  the 
common  enemy  stood  ready  to  devour  them  both, 
extolled  the  advantages  of  the  French  trade  and 
alliance,  and,  with  zeal  not  wholly  disinterested, 
urged  them  to  shake  hands  like  brothers.  The 
friendly  counsel  was  accepted,  the  pipe  of  peace  was 
smoked,  the  storm  dispelled,  and  the  commerce  of 
New  France  rescued  from  a  serious  peril. ^ 

Once  more  Champlain  turned  homeward,  and 
with  him  went  his  Huron  host,  Durantal.  Le 
Caron  had  preceded  him  ;  and,  on  the  eleventh  of 
July,  the  fellow  travellers  met  again  in  the  in- 
fant capital  of  Canada.  The  Indians  had  reported 
that  Champlain  was  dead,  and  he  was  welcomed  as 
one  risen  from  the  grave.  The  friars,  who  were  all 
here,  chanted  lauds  in  their  chapel,  with  a  solemn 
mass  and  thanksgiving.  To  the  two  travellers, 
fresh  from  the  hardships  of  the  wilderness,  the 
hospitable  board  of  Quebec,  the  kindly  society  of 
countrymen  and  friends,  the  adjacent  gardens, — 
always  to  Champlain  an  object  of  especial  inter- 
est, —  seemed  like  the  comforts  and  repose  of 
home. 

currency,  decoration,  and  record.     Wrought  into  belts  of  various  devices, 
each  having  its  significance,  it  preserved  the  substance  of  treaties  and  com- 
pacts from  generation  to  generation. 
1  Champlain,  (1627,)  63-72. 


416  THE   GREAT   WAR   PARTY.  -     [1616. 

The  chief  Durantal  found  entertainment  worthy 
of  his  high  estate.  The  fort,  the  sliip,  the  armor, 
the  plumes,  the  cannon,  the  marvellous  architecture 
of  the  houses  and  barracks,  the  splendors  of  the 
chapel,  and  above  all  the  good  cheer,  outran  the 
boldest  excursion  of  his  fancy ;  and  he  paddled 
back  at  last  to  his  lodge  in  the  woods,  bewildered 
with  astonishment  and  admiration. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1616-1627. 

HOSTILE  SECTS.  — RIVAL  INTERESTS. 

Quebec.  —  Tadodssac.  —  Embarrassments  of  Champlain.  —  Mont- 
morency.—  Madame  de  Champlain.  —  Disorder  and  Danger. — 
The  Due  de  Ventadour.  — The  Jesuits.  —  Catholics  and  Here- 
tics.—  Richelieu.  —  The  Hundred  Associates. 

At  Quebec  the  signs  of  growth  were  faint  and 
few.  By  the  water-side,  under  the  cliff,  the  so- 
called  "  habitation,"  built  in  haste  eight  years  be- 
fore, was  already  tottering,  and  Champlain  was 
forced  to  rebuild  it.  On  the  verge  of  the  rock 
above,  where  now  are  seen  the  buttresses  of  the 
demolished  castle  of  St.  Louis,  he  began,  in  1620, 
a  fort,  behind  which  were  fields  and  a  few  build- 
ings. A  mile  or  more  distant,  by  the  bank  of  the 
St.  Charles,  where  the  General  Hospital  now  stands, 
the  Recollets,  in  the  same  year,  built  for  them- 
selves a  small  stone  house,  with  ditches  and  out- 
works for  defence ;  and  here  they  began  a  farm, 
the  stock  consisting  of  several  hogs,  a  pair  of  asses, 
a  pair  of  geese,  seven  pairs  of  fowls,  and  four  pairs 
of  ducks.^  The  only  other  agriculturist  in  the  col- 
ony was  Louis  Hebert,  who  had  come  to  Canada  in 

1  Lettre  du  P.  Denis  Jamet,  15  Aout,  1620,  in  Sagard,  Histoire  du 
Canada,  58. 

27 


418  HOSTILE   SECTS.  — RIVAL   INTERESTS.        [1616-20. 

1617  with  a  wife  and  three  children,  and  who  made 
a  house  for  himself  on  the  rock,  at  a  little  distance 
from  Champlain's  fort. 

Besides  Quebec,  there  were  the  three  trading- 
stations  of  Montreal,  Three  Rivers,  and  Tadoussac, 
occupied  during  a  part  of  the  year.  Of  these, 
Tadoussac  was  still  the  most  important.  Landing 
here  from  France  in  1617,  the  Recollet  Paul  Huet 
said  mass  for  the  first  time  in  a  chapel  built  of 
branches,  while  two  sailors  standing  beside  him 
waved  green  boughs  to  drive  off  the  mosquitoes. 
Thither  afterward  came  Brother  Gervais  Mohier, 
newly  arrived  in  Canada  ;  and  meeting  a  crowd  of 
Indians  in  festal  attire,  he  was  frightened  at  first, 
suspecting  that  they  might  be  demons.  Being  in- 
vited by  them  to  a  feast,  and  told  that  he  must  not 
decline,  he  took  his  place  among  a  party  of  two 
hundred,  squatted  about  four  large  kettles  full  of 
fish,  bear's  meat,  pease,  and  plums,  mixed  with  figs, 
raisins,  and  biscuit  procured  at  great  cost  from  the 
traders,  the  whole  boiled  together  and  well  stirred 
with  a  canoe-paddle.  As  the  guest  did  no  honor 
to  the  portion  set  before  him,  his  entertainers  tried 
to  tempt  his  appetite  with  a  large  lump  of  bear's 
fat,  a  supreme  luxury  in  their  eyes.  This  only 
increased  his  embarrassment,  and  he  took  a  hasty 
leave,  uttering  the  ejaculation,  ''  Ho,  ho,  ho ! " 
which,  as  he  had  been  correctly  informed,  was  the 
proper  mode  of  acknowledgment  to  the  master 
of  the  feast. 

A  change  had  now  begun  in  the  life  of  Cham- 
plain.     His  forest  rovings  were  over.     To  battle 


1616-24.]  EMBAKEASSMENTS  OF  CHAMPLAIN.  419 

with  savages  and  the  elements  was  more  congenial 
with  his  nature  than  to  nurse  a  puny  colony  into 
growth  and  strength;  yet  to  each  task  he  gave 
himself  with  the  same  strong  devotion. 

His  difficulties  were  great.  Quebec  was  half  trad- 
ing-factory, half  mission.  Its  permanent  inmates 
did  not  exceed  fifty  or  sixty  persons,  —  fur-traders, 
friars,  and  two  or  three  wretched  families,  who  had 
no  inducement,  and  little  wish,  to  labor.  The  fort 
is  facetiously  represented  as  having  two  old  women 
for  garrison,  and  a  brace  of  hens  for  sentinels.^ 
All  was  discord  and  disorder.  Champlain  was  the 
nominal  commander ;  but  the  actual  authority  was 
with  the  merchants,  who  held,  excepting  the  friars, 
nearly  everybody  in  their  pay.  Each  was  jealous 
of  the  other,  but  all  were  united  in  a  common 
jealousy  of  Champlain.  The  few  families  whom 
they  brought  over  were  forbidden  to  trade  with  the 
Indians,  and  compelled  to  sell  the  fruits  of  their 
labor  to  the  agents  of  the  company  at  a  low,  fixed 
price,  receiving  goods  in  return  at  an  inordinate 
valuation.  Some  of  the  merchants  were  of  Rouen, 
some  of  St.  Malo ;  some  were  Catholics,  some  were 
Huguenots.  Hence  unceasing  bickerings.  All  exer- 
cise of  the  Reformed  religion,  on  land  or  water,  was 
prohibited  within  the  limits  of  New  France  ;  but  the 
Huguenots  set  the  prohibition  at  naught,  roaring 
their  heretical  psalmody  with  such  vigor  from  their 
ships  in  the  river,  that  the  unhallowed  strains  pol- 
luted the  ears  of  the  Indians  on  shore.  The  mer- 
chants of  Rochelle,  who  had  refused  to  join  the 

'I  Advis  au  Roj  sur  !es  Affaires  de  la  Xouvelle  France,  7. 


420  HOSTILE   SECTS.  — EIVAL  INTERESTS.      [1616-24. 

company,  carried  on  a  bold  illicit  traffic  along  the 
borders  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  endangering  the  col- 
ony by  selling  fire-arms  to  the  Indians,  eluding 
pursuit,  or,  if  hard  pressed,  showing  fight ;  and 
this  was  a  source  of  perpetual  irritation  to  the 
incensed  monopolists.^ 

The  colony  could  not  increase.  The  company 
of  merchants,  though  pledged  to  promote  its 
growth,  did  what  they  could  to  prevent  it.  They 
were  fur-traders,  and  the  interests  of  the  fur-trade 
are  always  opposed  to  those  of  settlement  and 
population.  They  feared,  too,  and  with  reason, 
that  their  monopoly  might  be  suddenly  revoked, 
like  that  of  De  Monts,  and  they  thought  only  of 
making  profit  from  it  while  it  lasted.  They  had  no 
permanent  stake  in  the  country ;  nor  had  the  men 
in  their  employ,  who  formed  nearly  all  the  scanty 
population  of  Canada.  Few,  if  any,  of  these  had 
brought  wives  to  the  colony,  and  none  of  them 
thought  of  cultivating  the  soil.  They  formed  a 
floating  population,  kept  from  starving  by  yearly 
supplies  from  France. 

Champlain,  in  his  singularly  trying  position, 
displayed  a  mingled  zeal  and  fortitude.  He  went 
every  year  to  France,  laboring  for  the  interests  of 
the  colony.  To  throw  open  the  trade  to  all  com- 
petitors was  a  measure  beyond  the  wisdom  of  the 
times ;  and  he  hoped  only  to  bind  and  regulate  the 
monopoly  so  as  to  make  it  subserve  the  generous 

1  Champlain,  1627  and  1632,  passim;  Sagard,  Hist,  du  Canada,  passim  ; 
Le  Clerc,  MtabI issement  de  la  Foy,  cc.  4-7  ;  Adris  an  Roy  sur  les  Affaires 
de  la  Nouvelle  France;  De'cret  de  Prise  de  Corps  d'Hebert;  Plainte  de  la 
Nouvelle  France  a  la  France  sa  Germaine,  passim. 


1620.]  MADAME  DE  CHAMPLAIN.  421 

purpose  to  whicli  he  had  given  himself.  The  im- 
prisonment of  Conde  was  a  source  of  fresh  embar- 
rassment ;  but  the  young  Due  de  Montmorenci 
assumed  his  place,  purchasing  from  him  the  profit- 
able lieutenancy  of  New  France  for  eleven  thousand 
crowns,  and  continuing  Champlain  in  command. 
Champlain  had  succeeded  in  binding  the  company 
of  merchants  with  new  and  more  stringent  en- 
gagements ;  and,  in  the  vain  belief  that  these 
might  not  be  wholly  broken,  he  began  to  conceive 
fresh  hopes  for  the  colony.  In  this  faith  he  em- 
barked with  his  wife  for  Quebec  in  the  spring  of 
1620 ;  and,  as  the  boat  drew  near  the  landing,  the 
cannon  welcomed  her  to  the  rock  of  her  banish- 
ment. The  buildings  were  falling  to  ruin ;  rain 
entered  on  all  sides ;  the  courtyard,  says  Cham- 
plain, was  as  squalid  and  dilapidated  as  a  grange 
pillaged  by  soldiers.  Madame  de  Champlain  was 
still  very  young.  If  the  Ursuline  tradition  is  to 
be  trusted,  the  Indians,  amazed  at  her  beauty  and 
touched  by  her  gentleness,  would  have  worshipped 
her  as  a  divinity.  Her  husband  had  married  her 
at  the  age  of  twelve ;  ^  when,  to  his  horror,  he 
presently  discovered  that  she  was  infected  with 
the  heresies  of  her  father,  a  disguised  Huguenot. 
He  addressed  himself  at  once  to  her  conversion, 
and  his  pious  efforts  were  something  more  than 
successful.  During  the  four  years  which  she 
passed  in  Canada,  her  zeal,  it  is  true,  was  chiefly 
exercised  in  admonishing  Indian  squaws  and  cate- 

^  Contrat  de  Manage  de  Samuel  de  Champlain,  27  Dec,  1610.    Charavay, 
Documents  Ine'dits  sur  Samuel  ie  Champlain. 


422  HOSTILE   SECTS.  — RIVAL  INTERESTS.  [1622 

chising  their  children ;  but,  on  her  return  to 
France,  nothing  would  content  her  but  to  become 
a  nun.  Champlain  refused  ;  but,  as  she  was  child- 
less, he  at  length  consented  to  a  virtual,  though 
not  formal  separation.  After  his  death  she  gained 
her  wish,  became  an  Ursuline  nun,  founded  a  con- 
vent of  that  order  at  Meaux,  and  died  with  a 
reputation  almost  saintly.^ 

At  Quebec,  matters  grew  from  bad  to  worse. 
The  few  emigrants,  with  no  inducement  to  labor, 
fell  into  a  lazy  apathy,  lounging  about  the  trading- 
houses,  gaming,  drinking  when  drink  could  be  had, 
or  roving  into  the  woods  on  vagabond  hunting  ex- 
cursions. The  Indians  could  not  be  trusted.  In 
the  year  1617  they  had  murdered  two  men  near 
the  end  of  the  Island  of  Orleans.  Frightened 
at  what  they  had  done,  and  incited  perhaps  by 
other  causes,  the  Montagnais  and  their  kindred 
bands  mustered  at  Three  Rivers  to  the  number 
of  eight  hundred,  resolved  to  destroy  the  French. 
The  secret  was  betrayed  ;  and  the  childish  multi- 
tude, naked  and  famishing,  became  suppliants  to 
their  intended  victims  for  the  means  of  life.  The 
French,  themselves  at  the  point  of  starvation, 
could  give  little  or  nothing.  An  enemy  far  more 
formidable  awaited  them  ;  and  now  were  seen  the 
fruits  of  Champlain's  intermeddling  in  Indian 
wars.  In  the  summer  of  1G22,  the  Iroquois  de- 
scended upon  the  settlement.  A  strong  party  of 
their   warriors   hovered   about    Quebec,   but,   still 

1  Exlrnhs  des  Chroniques  de  I'Ordre  des  Ursulines,  Journal  de  Quebec,  10 
^fars,  1855. 


1620-21.]  A   NEW  MONOPOLY.  423 

fearful  of  the  arquebuse,  forbore  to  attack  it,  and 
assailed  the  Recollet  convent  on  the  St.  Charles. 
The  prudent  friars  had  fortified  themselves.  While 
some  prayed  in  the  chapel,  the  rest,  with  their 
Indian  converts,  manned  the  walls.  The  Iroquois 
respected  their  palisades  and  deini-lunes,  and  with- 
drew, after  burning  two  Huron  prisoners. 

Yielding  at  length  to  reiterated  complaints,  the 
Viceroy  Montmorency  suppressed  the  company  of 
St.  Malo  and  Rouen,  and  conferred  the  trade  of 
New  France,  burdened  with  similar  conditions, 
destined  to  be  similarly  broken,  on  two  Hugue- 
nots, William  and  Emery  de  Caen.^  The  change 
was  a  signal  for  fresh  disorders.  The  enraged 
monopolists  refused  to  yield.  The  rival  traders 
filled  Quebec  with  their  quarrels ;  and  Champlain, 
seeing  his  authority  set  at  naught,  was  forced  to 
occupy  his  newly  built  fort  with  a  band  of  armed 
followers.  The  evil  rose  to  such  a  pitch,  that  he 
joined  with  the  Eecollets  and  the  better-disposed 
among  the  colonists  in  sending  one  of  the  friars  to 
lay  their  grievances  before  the  King,  The  dis- 
pute was  compromised  by  a  temporary  union  of 
the  two  companies,  together  with  a  variety  of 
arrets  and  regulations,  suited,  it  was  thought,  to 
restore  tranquillity.^ 

A  new  change  was  at  hand.  Montmorency, 
tired  of  his  viceroyalty,  which  gave  him  ceaseless 

1  Letfre  de  Montmorency  a  Champlain,  2  Fe'vrier,  1621  ;  Paris  Docu- 
ments in  archives  of  Massachusetts,  I.  493. 

2  Le  Roy  a  Champlain,  20  Mars,  1622;  Champlain,  (1632,  Seconde  Par- 
tie,)  Livre  I. ;  Le  Clerc,  Etablissement  de  la  Foy,  c.  6 ;  Sagard,  Histoire  du 
Canada,  Livre  I.  c.  7 


424  HOSTILE   SECTS.  — KIVAL  INTERESTS.  [1625. 

annoyance,  sold  it  to  his  nephew,  Henri  de  Levis, 
Due  de  Ventadour.  It  was  no  worldly  motive 
which  prompted  this  young  nobleman  to  assume 
the  burden  of  fostering  the  infancy  of  New  France. 
He  had  retired  from  the  court,  and  entered  into 
holy  orders.  For  trade  and  colonization  he  cared 
nothing.  The  conversion  of  infidels  was  his  sole 
care.  The  Jesuits  had  the  keeping  of  his  con- 
science, and  in  his  eyes  they  were  the  most  fitting 
instruments  for  his  purpose.  The  Recollets,  it  is 
true,  had  labored  with  an  unflagging  devotion. 
The  six  friars  of  their  Order  —  for  this  was  the 
number  which  the  Calvinist  Caen  had  bound  him- 
self to  support  —  had  established  five  distinct  mis- 
sions, extending  from  Acadia  to  the  borders  of 
Lake  Huron ;  but  the  field  was  too  vast  for  their 
powers.  Ostensibly  by  a  spontaneous  movement 
of  their  own,  but  in  reality,  it  is  probable,  under 
influences  brought  to  bear  on  them  from  without, 
the  Recollets  applied  for  the  assistance  of  the 
Jesuits,  who,  strong  in  resources  as  in  energy, 
would  not  be  compelled  to  rest  on  the  reluctant 
support  of  Huguenots.  Three  of  their  brother- 
hood, Charles  Lalemant,  Enemond  Masse,  and 
Jean  de  Brebeuf,  accordingly  embarked ;  and,  four- 
teen years  after  Biard  and  Masse  had  landed  in 
Acadia,  Canada  beheld  for  the  first  time  those 
whose  names  stand  so  prominent  in  her  annals,  — 
the  mysterious  followers  of  Loyola.  Their  re- 
ception was  most  inauspicious.  Champlain  was 
absent.  Caen  would  not  lodge  them  in  the  fort ; 
the  traders  would  not  admit  them  to  their  houses. 


1626,]  AERIVAL  OF  JESUITS.  425 

Nothing  seemed  left  for  them  but  to  return  as 
they  came ;  when  a  boat,  bearing  several  Recol- 
lets,  approached  the  ship  to  proffer  them  the 
hospitalities  of  the  convent  on  the  St.  Charles.^ 
They  accepted  the  proffer,  and  became  guests  of 
the  charitable  friars,  who  nevertheless  entertained 
a  lurking  jealousy  of  these  formidable  co-workers. 
The  Jesuits  soon  unearthed  and  publicly  burnt 
a  libel  against  their  Order  belonging  to  some  of 
the  traders.  Their  strength  was  soon  increased. 
The  Fathers  Noirot  and  De  la  None  landed,  with 
twenty  laborers,  and  the  Jesuits  were  no  longer 
houseless.^  Brebeuf  set  forth  for  the  arduous 
mission  of  the  Hurons ;  but,  on  arriving  at  Trois 
Rivieres,  he  learned  that  one  of  his  Francis- 
can predecessors,  Nicolas  Viel,  had  recently  been 
drowned  by  Indians  of  that  tribe,  in  the  rapid 
behind  Montreal,  known  to  this  day  as  the  Saut 
an  Recollet.  Less  ambitious  for  martyrdom  than 
he  afterwards  approved  himself,  he  postponed  his 
voyage  to  a  more  auspicious  season.  In  the  fol- 
lowing spring  he  renewed  the  attempt,  in  company 
with  De  la  None  and  one  of  the  friars.  The  In- 
dians, however,  refused  to  receive  him  into  their 
canoes,  alleging  that  his  tall  and  portly  frame 
would  overset  them ;  and  it  was  only  by  dint  of 

1  Le  Clerc,  ^tahlissement  de  la  Foy,  I.  310;  Lnlemant  a  Champlain,  28 
Jiiillet,  1625,  in  Le  Clerc,  I.  313;  Lalemant,  Relation,  1625,  in  Mercure 
Fran^ais,  XIII. 

2  Lalemant,  in  a  letter  dated  1  August,  1626,  says  that  at  that  time 
there  were  only  forty-three  Frenchmen  at  Quebec.  The  Jesuits  employed 
themselves  in  confessing  them,  preaching  two  sermons  a  month,  studying 
the  Indian  languages,  and  cultivating  the  ground,  as  a  preparation  for 
more  arduous  work.     See  Carayon,  Premiere  Mission,  117. 


426  HOSTILE   SECTS.  —  KIVAL.  INTERESTS.  [1626. 

many  presents  that  their  pretended  scruples  could 
be  conquered.  Brebeuf  embarked  with  his  com- 
panions, and,  after  months  of  toil,  reached  the 
barbarous  scene  of  his  labors,  his  sufferings,  and 
his  death. 

Meanwhile  the  Viceroy  had  been  deeply  scan- 
dalized by  the  contumacious  heresy  of  Emery  de 
Caen,  who  not  only  assembled  his  Huguenot  sai- 
lors at  prayers,  but  forced  Catholics  to  join  them. 
He  was  ordered  thenceforth  to  prohibit  his  crews 
from  all  praying  and  psalm-singing  on  the  river  St. 
Lawrence.  The  crews  revolted,  and  a  compromise 
was  made.  It  was  agreed,  that,  for  the  present, 
they  might  pray,  but  not  sing.-^  "  A  bad  bargain," 
says  the  pious  Champlain,  "  but  we  made  the  best 
of  it  we  could."  Caen,  enraged  at  the  Viceroy's 
reproofs,  lost  no  opportunity  to  vent  his  spleen 
against  the  Jesuits,  whom  he  cordially  hated. 

Eighteen  years  had  passed  since  the  founding  of 
Quebec,  and  still  the  colony  could  scarcely  be  said 
to  exist  but  in  the  founder's  brain.  Those  who 
should  have  been  its  support  were  engrossed  by 
trade  or  propagandism.  Champlain  might  look 
back  on  fruitless  toils,  hopes  deferred,  a  life  spent 
seemingly  in  vain.  The  population  of  Quebec 
had  risen  to  a  hundred  and  five  persons,  men, 
women,  and  children.  Of  these,  one  or  two  fami- 
lies only  had  learned  to  support  themselves  from 
the  products  of  the  soil.     All  withered  under  the 

1  "  ....  en  fin,  fut  accorde  qu'ils  ue  chanteroient  point  les  P.seanmes, 
mais  qu'ils  s'assembleroient  pour  feire  leur  prieres."  Champlain,  (1632, 
Seconds  Partie,)  108. 


1620.]  A  RIVAL  COLONY.  427 

monopoly  of  the  Caens.^  Champlain  had  long 
desired  to  rebuild  the  fort,  which  was  weak  and 
ruinous ;  but  the  merchants  would  not  grant  the 
men  and  means  which,  b}^  their  charter,  they  were 
bound  to  furnish.  At  length,  however,  his  urgency 
in  part  prevailed,  and  the  work  began  to  advance. 
Meanwhile  the  Caens  and  their  associates  had 
greatly  prospered,  paying,  it  is  said,  an  annual 
dividend  of  forty  per  cent.  In  a  single  year  they 
brought  from  Canada  twenty-two  thousand  beaver- 
skins,  though  the  usual  number  did  not  exceed 
twelve  or  fifteen  thousand.^ 

While  infant  Canada  was  thus  struggling  into 
a  half-stifled  being,  the  foundation  of  a  common- 
wealth destined  to  a  marvellous  vigor  of  develop- 
ment had  been  laid  on  the  Rock  of  Plymouth.  In 
their  character,  as  in  their  destiny,  the  rivals  were 
widely  different ;  yet,  at  the  outset.  New  Eng- 
land w^as  unfaithful  to  the  principle  of  freedom. 
New  England  Protestantism  appealed  to  Liberty, 
then  closed  the  door  against  her ;  for  all  Protes- 
tantism is  an  appeal  from  priestly  authority  to  the 
right  of  private  judgment,  and  the  New  England 
Puritan,  after  claiming  this  right  for  himself,  de- 
nied it  to  all  who  differed  with  him.  On  a  stock 
of  freedom  he  grafted  a  scion  of  despotism ;  ^  yet 

1  Advis  au  Roy,  passim ;  Plainte  de  la  NouveUe  France. 

2  Lalemant,  Relation,  1625,  in  Mercure  Frangais,  XIIL  The  skins  sold 
at  a  pistole  each.  The  Caens  employed  forty  men  and  upwards  in  Canada, 
besides  a  hundred  and  fifty  in  their  ships. 

3  lu  Massachusetts,  none  but  church-members  could  vote  or  hold  office. 
In  other  words,  the  deputies  to  the  General  Court  were  deputies  of  churches, 
and  the  Governor  and  magistrates  were  church-members,  elected  l)y  church- 
members.     Church  and  State  were  not  united :  they  were  identified.     A 


428  HOSTILE   SECTS.— RIVAL  INTERESTS.  [1627. 

the  vital  juices  of  the  root  penetrated  at  last  to 
the  uttermost  branches,  and  nourished  them  to  an 
irrepressible  strength  and  expansion.  With  New 
France  it  was  otherwise.  She  was  consistent  to 
the  last.  Root,  stem,  and  branch,  she  was  the 
nursling  of  authority.  Deadly  absolutism  blighted 
her  early  and  her  later  growth.  Friars  and  Jes- 
uits, a  Ventadour  and  a  Richelieu,  shaped  her 
destinies.  All  that  conflicted  against  advancing 
liberty  —  the  centralized  power  of  the  crown  and 
the  tiara,  the  ultramontane  in  religion,  the  des- 
potic in  policy  —  found  their  fullest  expression 
and  most  fatal  exercise.  Her  records  shine  with 
glorious  deeds,  the  self-devotion  of  heroes  and  of 
martyrs ;  and  the  result  of  all  is  disorder,  imbe- 
cility, ruin. 

The  great  champion  of   absolutism,   Richelieu, 

majority  of  the  people,  including  men  of  wealth,  ability,  and  character,  were 
deprived  of  the  rights  of  freemen  because  they  were  not  church-mem- 
bers. When  some  of  them  petitioned  the  General  Court  for  redress,  they 
were  imprisoned  and  heavily  fined  as  guilty  of  sedition.  Their  sedition 
consisted  in  their  proposing  to  appeal  to  Parliament,  though  it  was 
then  composed  of  Puritans.  See  Palfrey,  History  of  New  England,  Vol. 
II.  Ch.  IV. 

The  New  England  Puritans  were  foes,  not  only  of  episcopacy,  but  of 
presbytery.  But  under  their  system  of  separate  and  independent  churches, 
it  was  impossible  to  enforce  the  desired  uniformity  of  doctrine.  Therefore, 
while  inveighing  against  English  and  Scottish  presbytery,  they  established 
a  virtual  presbytery  of  their  own.  A  distinction  was  made.  The  New 
England  Synod  could  not  coerce  an  erring  church  ;  it  could  only  advise  and 
exhort.  This  was  clearly  insufficient,  and,  accordingly,  in  cases  of  heresy 
and  schism,  the  civil  poicer  was  invoked.  That  is  to  say,  the  churches  iu 
their  ecclesiastical  capacity  consigned  doctrinal  offenders  for  punishment 
to  the  same  churches  acting  in  a  civil  capacity,  while  they  professed  an 
abomination  of  presbytery  because  it  endangered  liberty  of  conscience. 
See  A  Platform  of  Church  Discipline,  gather'd  out  of  the  Word  of  God  and 
agreed  upon  hy  the  Elders  and  Messengers  of  the  Churches  assembled  in  the 
Synod  at  Cambridge,  in  New  England,  Ch.  XVII.  §§  8,  9 


1627.]  RICHELIEU.  429 

was  now  supreme  in  France.  His  thin  frame,  pale 
cheek,  and  cold,  calm  eye,  concealed  an  inexorable 
will,  and  a  mind  of  vast  capacity,  armed  with  all 
the  resources  of  boldness  and  of  craft.  Under  his 
potent  agency,  the  royal  power,  in  the  weak  hands 
of  Louis  the  Thirteenth,  waxed  and  strengthened 
daily,  triumphing  over  the  factions  of  the  court, 
the  turbulence  of  the  Huguenots,  the  ambitious 
independence  of  the  nobles,  and  all  the  elements 
of  anarchy  which,  since  the  death  of  Henry  the 
Fourth,  had  risen  into  fresh  life.  With  no  friends 
and  a  thousand  enemies,  disliked  and  feared  by 
the  pitiful  King  whom  he  served,  making  his  tool 
by  turns  of  every  party  and  of  every  principle,  he 
advanced  by  countless  crooked  paths  towards  his 
object,  —  the  greatness  of  France  under  a  concen- 
tred and  undivided  authority. 

In  the  midst  of  more  urgent  cares,  he  addressed 
himself  to  fostering  the  commercial  and  naval 
power.  Montmorency  then  held  the  ancient 
charge  of  Admiral  of  France.  Richelieu  bought 
it,  suppressed  it,  and,  in  its  stead,  constituted  him- 
self Grand  Master  and  Superintendent  of  Naviga- 
tion and  Commerce.  In  this  new  capacity,  the 
mismanaged  affairs  of  New  France  were  not  long 
concealed  from  him  ;  and  he  applied  a  prompt  and 
powerful  remedy.  The  privileges  of  the  Caens 
were  annulled.  A  company  was  formed,  to  con- 
sist of  a  hundred  associates,  and  to  be  called  the 
Company  of  New  France.  Richelieu  himself  was 
the  head,  and  the  Marechal  Deffiat  and  other  men 
of   rank,  besides  many  merchants  and  burghers 


430  HOSTILE   SECTS.  — KrVAL  INTERESTS.  [1627. 

of  condition,  were  members.-^  The  whole  of  New 
France,  from  Florida  to  the  Arctic  Circle,  and 
from  Newfoundland  to  the  sources  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  its  tributary  waters,  was  conferred  on 
them  forever,  with  the  attributes  of  sovereign 
power.  A  perpetual  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade 
was  granted  them,  with  a  monopoly  of  all  other 
commerce  within  the  limits  of  their  government 
for  fifteen  years.^  The  trade  of  the  colony  was 
declared  free,  for  the  same  period,  from  all  duties 
and  imposts.  Nobles,  officers,  and  ecclesiastics, 
members  of  the  Company,  might  engage  in  com- 
mercial pursuits  without  derogating  from  the  privi- 
leges of  their  order.  And,  in  evidence  of  his 
good  will,  the  King  gave  them  two  ships  of  war, 
armed  and  equipped. 

On  their  part,  the  Company  were  bound  to  con- 
vey to  New  France  during  the  next  year,  1628, 
two  or  three  hundred  men  of  all  trades,  and  be- 
fore the  year  1643  to  increase  the  number  to  four 
thousand  persons,^  of  both  sexes ;  to  lodge  and 
support  them  for  three  years ;  and,  this  time  ex- 
pired, to  give  them  cleared  lands  for  their  main- 
tenance. Every  settler  must  be  a  Frenchman  and 
a  Catholic  ;  and  for  every  new  settlement  at  least 
three  ecclesiastics  must   be  provided.     Thus  was 

1  Noms,  Surnoms,  et  Qualitez  des  Associez  de  la  Compagnie  de  la  Nouvelle 
France. 

2  The  whale  and  the  cod  fishery  were,  however,  to  remain  open  to  all. 

2  Charlevoix  erroneously  says  sixteen  thousand.  Compare  Acte  pour 
r ^tabiissement  de  la  Compagnie  des  Cent  Associ€s,  in  Mercure  Francais,  XIV. 
Partie  II.  232 ;  Fdits  et  Ordonnances,  I.  5.  The  act  of  establishment  was 
ori2;inally  published  in  a  small  duodecimo  volume,  which  differs,  though 
not  very  essentially,  from  the  copy  in  the  Mercure. 


1627.]  EXCLUSION  OF  HUGUENOTS.  431 

New  France  to  be  forever  free  from  the  taint  of 
heresy.  The  stain  of  her  infancy  was  to  be  wiped 
away.  Against  the  foreigner  and  the  Huguenot 
the  door  was  closed  and  barred.  England  threw 
open  her  colonies  to  all  who  wished  to  enter,  —  to 
the  suffering  and  oppressed,  the  bold,  active,  and 
enterprising.  France  shut  out  those  who  wished 
to  come,  and  admitted  only  those  who  did  not,  — 
the  favored  class  who  clung  to  the  old  faith  and 
had  no  motive  or  disposition  to  leave  their  homes. 
English  colonization  obeyed  a  natural  law,  and 
sailed  with  wind  and  tide ;  French  colonization 
spent  its  whole  struggling  existence  in  futile  efforts 
to  make  head  against  them.  The  English  colonist 
developed  inherited  freedom  on  a  virgin  soil ;  the 
French  colonist  was  pursued  across  the  Atlantic  by 
a  paternal  despotism  better  in  intention  and  more 
withering  in  effect  than  that  which  he  left  behind. 
If,  instead  of  excluding  Huguenots,  France  had 
given  them  an  asylum  in  the  west,  and  left  them 
there  to  work  out  their  own  destinies,  Canada 
would  never  have  been  a  British  province,  and  the 
United  States  would  have  shared  their  vast  do- 
main with  a  vigorous  population  of  self-governing 
Frenchmen. 

A  trading  company  was  now  feudal  proprietor 
of  all  domains  in  North  America  within  the  claim 
of  France.  Fealty  and  homage  on  its  part,  and 
on  the  part  of  the  Crown  the  appointment  of  su- 
preme judicial  officers,  and  the  confirmation  of  the 
titles  of  dukes,  marquises,  counts,  and  barons,  were 
the  only  reservations.     The  King  heaped   favors 


432  HOSTILE   SECTS.  — RIVAL  INTERESTS.  [1627. 

on  the  new  corporation.  Twelve  of  the  hoiu^geois 
members  were  ennobled  ;  while  artisans  and  even 
manufacturers  were  tempted,  by  extraordinary 
privileges,  to  emigrate  to  the  New  World.  The 
associates,  of  whom  Champlain  was  one,  entered 
upon  their  functions  with  a  capital  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  livres.^ 

1  Articles  et  Conventions  de  Soci€t€  et  Compagnie,  in  Mercure  Frangais, 
XIV.  Partie  II.  250. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1628,  1629. 

THE  ENGLISH  AT  QUEBEC. 

Revolt  of  Rochelle.  —  War  with  England.  —  The  English  on 
THE  St.  Lawrence.  —  Bold  Attitude  of  Champlain.  —  The 
French  Squadron  destroyed.  —  Famine.  —  Return  of  the 
English.  —  Quebec  surrendered. — Another  Naval  Battle. — 
Michel.  —  Champlain  at  London. 

The  first  care  of  the  new  Company  was  to  suc- 
cor Quebec,  whose  inmates  were  on  the  verge  of 
starvation.  Four  armed  vessels,  with  a  fleet  of 
transports  commanded  by  Roquemont,  one  of  the 
associates,  sailed  from  Dieppe  with  colonists  and 
supplies  in  April,  1628 ;  but  nearly  at  the  same 
time  another  squadron,  destined  also  for  Quebec, 
was  sailing  from  an  English  port.  War  had  at 
leno;th  broken  out  in  France.  The  Husiuenot  re- 
volt  had  come  to  a  head.  Rochelle  was  in  arms 
against  the  King;  and  Richelieu,  with  his  royal 
ward,  was  beleaguering  it  with  the  whole  strength 
of  the  kingdom.  Charles  the  First  of  England, 
urged  by  the  heated  passions  of  Buckingham,  had 
declared  himself  for  the  rebels,  and  sent  a  fleet  to 
their  aid.  At  home,  Charles  detested  the  follow- 
ers of  Calvin  as  dangerous  to  his  own  authority ; 
abroad,  he  befriended  them  as  dangerous  to  the 
authority  of  a  rival.     In  France,  Richelieu  crushed 

28 


434  THE   ENGLISH   AT   QUEBEC.  [1628. 

protestantism  as  a  curb  to  the  house  of  Bourbon ; 
in  Germany,  he  nursed  and  strengthened  it  as  a 
curb  to  the  house  of  Austria. 

The  attempts  of  Sir  WiUiam  Alexander  to 
colonize  Acadia  had  of  late  turned  attention  in 
England  towards  the  New  World  ;  and,  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  an  expedition  was  set  on 
foot,  under  the  auspices  of  that  singular  person- 
age, to  seize  on  the  French  possessions  in  North 
America.  It  was  a  private  enterprise,  undertaken 
by  London  merchants,  prominent  among  whom 
was  Gervase  Kirke,  an  Englishman  of  Derbyshire, 
who  had  long  lived  at  Dieppe,  and  had  there  mar- 
ried a  Frenchwoman.^  Gervase  Kirke  and  his 
associates  fitted  out  three  small  armed  shij)s,  com- 
manded respectively  by  his  sons  David,  Lewis,  and 
Thomas.  Letters  of  marque  were  obtained  from 
the  King,  and  the  adventurers  were  authorized  to 
drive  out  the  French  from  Acadia  and  Canada. 
Many  Huguenot  refugees  were  among  the  crews. 
Having  been  expelled  from  New  France  as  settlers, 
the  persecuted  sect  were  returning  as  enemies. 
One  Captain  Michel,  who  had  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Caens,  "a  furious  Calvinist,"^  is  said 
to  have  instigated  the  attempt,  acting,  it  is  af- 
firmed, under  the  influence  of  one  of  his  former 
employers. 

Meanwhile  the  famished  tenants  of  Quebec  were 
eagerly  waiting  the  expected  succor.     Daily  they 

1  Henry  Kirke,  First  English  Conquest  of  Canada,  (1871,)  27,  28,  206- 
208.  David  Kirke  was  knighted  in  ScotlaJid.  Hence  he  is  said  to  have 
been  Scotch  by  descent. 

2  Charlevoix,  I.  171. 


1628.]  ATTACK  AT  CAPE   TOURMENTE.  435 

gazed  beyond  Point  Levi  and  along  the  channels 
of  Orleans,  in  the  vain  hope  of  seeing  the  approach- 
ing sails.  At  length,  on  the  ninth  of  July,  two 
men,  worn  with  struggling  through  forests  and 
over  torrents,  crossed  the  St.  Charles  and  mounted 
the  rock.  They  were  from  Cape  Tourmente,  where 
Champlain  had  some  time  before  established  an 
outpost,  and  they  brought  news  that,  according  to 
the  report  of  Indians,  six  large  vessels  lay  in  the 
harbor  of  Tadoussac.^  The  friar  Le  Caron  was 
at  Quebec,  and,  with  a  brother  Recollet,  he  went 
in  a  canoe  to  gain  further  intelligence.  As  the 
missionary  scouts  were  paddling  along  the  borders 
of  the  Island  of  Orleans,  they  met  two  canoes 
advancing  in  hot  haste,  manned  by  Indians,  who 
with  shouts  and  gestures  warned  them  to  turn 
back. 

The  friars,  however,  waited  till  the  canoes  came 
up,  when  they  saw  a  man  lying  disabled  at  the 
bottom  of  one  of  them,  his  moustaches  burned 
by  the  flash  of  the  musket  which  had  wounded 
him.  He  proved  to  be  Foucher,  who  commanded 
at  Cape  Tourmente.  On  that  morning,  —  such 
was  the  story  of  the  fugitives,  —  twenty  men  had 
landed  at  that  post  from  a  small  fishing-vessel. 
Being  to  all  appearance  French,  they  were  hos- 
pitably received;  but  no  sooner  had  they  entered 
the  houses  than  they  began  to  pillage  and  burn  all 
before  them,  killing  the  cattle,  wounding  the  com- 
mandant, and  making  several  prisoners.^ 

1  Champlain,  (1632,  Seconde  Partie,)  152. 

2  Sagard,  919. 


436  THE   ENGLISH  AT  QUEBEC.  [1628. 

The  character  of  the  fleet  at  Tadoussac  was  now 
sufficiently  clear.  Quebec  was  incapable  of  de- 
fence. Only  fifty  pounds  of  gunpowder  were  left 
in  the  magazine  ;  and  the  fort,  owing  to  the  neglect 
and  ill-will  of  the  Caens,  was  so  wretchedly  con- 
structed, that,  a  few  days  before,  two  towers  of 
the  main  building  had  fallen.  Champlain,  how- 
ever, assigned  to  each  man  his  post,  and  waited 
the  result.^  On  the  next  afternoon,  a  boat  was 
seen  issuing  from  behind  the  Point  of  Orleans  and 
hovering  hesitatingly  about  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Charles.  On  being  challenged,  the  men  on  board 
proved  to  be  Basque  fishermen,  lately  captured  by 
the  English,  and  now  sent  by  Kirke  unwilling 
messengers  to  Champlain.  Climbing  the  steep 
pathway  to  the  fort,  they  delivered  their  letter,  — 
a  summons,  couched  in  terms  of  great  courtesy,  to 
surrender  Quebec.  There  was  no  hope  but  in 
courage.  A  bold  front  must  supply  the  lack  of 
batteries  and  ramparts ;  and  Champlain  dismissed 
the  Basques  with  a  reply,  in  which,  witli  equal 
courtesy,  he  expressed  his  determination  to  hold 
his  position  to  the  last.^ 

All  now  stood  on  the  watch,  hourly  expecting 
the  enemy;  when,  instead  of  the  hostile  squadron, 
a  small  boat  crept  into  sight,  and  one  Desdames, 
with  ten  Frenchmen,  landed  at  the  storehouses. 
He  brought  stirring  news.  The  French  com- 
mander, Roquemont,  had  despatched  him  to  tell 
Champlain  that  the  ships  of  the  Hundred  Asso- 

1  10  July,  1628. 

2  Sagard,  922;  Champlain,  (1632,  Seconde  Partie,)  157. 


1629.]  FAMINE.  437 

ciates  were  ascending  the  St.  Lawrence,  with  rein- 
forcements and  supplies  of  all  kinds.  But  on  his 
way  Desdames  had  seen  an  ominous  sight, — the 
English  squadron  standing  under  full  sail  out  of 
Tadoussac,  and  steering  downwards  as  if  to  inter- 
cept the  advancing  succor.  He  had  only  escaped 
them  by  dragging  his  boat  up  the  beach  and  hiding 
it ;  and  scarcely  were  they  out  of  sight  when  the 
booming  of  cannon  told  him  that  the  fight  was 
begun. 

Racked  with  suspense,  the  starving  tenants  of 
Quebec  waited  the  result ;  but  they  waited  in  vain. 
No  white  sail  moved  athwart  the  green  solitudes 
of  Orleans.  Neither  friend  nor  foe  appeared  ;  and 
it  was  not  till  long  afterward  that  Indians  brought 
them  the  tidings  that  Roquemont's  crowded  trans- 
ports had  been  overpowered,  and  all  the  supplies 
destined  to  relieve  their  miseries  sunk  in  the  St. 
Lawrence  or  seized  by  the  victorious  English. 
Kirke,  however,  deceived  by  the  bold  attitude  of 
Champlain,  had  been  too  discreet  to  attack  Quebec, 
and  after  his  victory  employed  himself  in  cruising 
for  French  fishino;-vessels  along;  the  borders  of  the 
Gulf. 

Meanwhile,  the  suffering  at  Quebec  increased 
daily.  Somewhat  less  than  a  hundred  men,  women, 
and  children  were  cooped  up  in  the  fort,  subsisting 
on  a  meagre  pittance  of  pease  and  Indian  corn. 
The  garden  of  the  Heberts,  the  only  thrifty  set- 
tlers, was  ransacked  for  every  root  or  seed  that 
could  afford  nutriment.  Months  wore  on,  and,  in 
the  spring,  the  distress  had  risen  to  such  a  pitch 


438  THE   ENGLISH  AT   QUEBEC.  [1629. 

that  Cliamplain  had  wellnigh  resolved  to  leave  to 
the  women,  children,  and  sick  the  little  food  that 
remained,  and  with  the  able-bodied  men  invade  the 
Iroquois,  seize  one  of  their  villages,  fortify  himself 
in  it,  and  sustain  his  followers  on  the  buried  stores 
of  maize  with  which  the  strongholds  of  these  provi- 
dent savages  were  always  furnished. 

Seven  ounces  of  pounded  pease  were  now  the 
daily  food  of  each ;  and,  at  the  end  of  May,  even 
this  failed.  Men,  women,  and  children  betook 
themselves  to  the  woods,  gathering  acorns  and 
grubbing  up  roots.  Those  of  the  plant  called 
Solomon's  seal  were  most  in  request.^  Some 
joined  the  Hurons  or  the  Algonquins  ;  some  wan- 
dered towards  the  Abenakis  of  Maine ;  some  de- 
scended in  a  boat  to  Gaspe,  trusting  to  meet  a 
French  fishing-vessel.  There  was  scarcely  one 
who  would  not  have  hailed  the  English  as  de- 
liverers. But  the  English  had  sailed  home  with 
their  booty,  and  the  season  was  so  late  that  there 
was  little  prospect  of  their  return.  Forgotten 
alike  by  friends  and  foes,  Quebec  was  on  the 
verge  of  extinction. 

On  the  morning  of  the  nineteenth  of  July,  an 
Indian,  renowned  as  a  fisher  of  eels,  who  had  built 
his  hut  on  the  St.  Charles,  hard  by  the  new  dwell- 
ing of  the  Jesuits,  came,  with  his  usual  imper- 
turbability of  visage,  to  Champlain.  He  had  just 
discovered  three  ships  sailing  up  the  south  channel 
of  Orleans.  Champlain  was  alone.  All  his  fol- 
lowers were  absent,  fishing  or  searching  for  roots. 

1  Sagard,  977. 


1629.]  QUEBEC   SURRENDERED.  439 

At  about  ten  o'clock  his  servant  appeared  with 
four  small  bags  of  roots,  and  the  tidings  that  he 
had  seen  the  three  ships  a  league  off,  behind  Point 
Levi.  As  man  after  man  hastened  in,  Champlain 
ordered  the  starved  and  ragged  band,  sixteen  in 
all,^  to  their  posts,  whence,  with  hungry  eyes, 
they  watched  the  English  vessels  anchoring  in  the 
basin  below,  and  a  boat  with  a  white  flag  moving 
towards  the  shore.-  A  young  officer  landed  with 
a  summons  to  surrender.  The  terms  of  capitula- 
tion were  at  length  settled.  The  French  were  to 
be  conveyed  to  their  own  country,  and  each  sol- 
dier was  allowed  to  take  with  him  his  clothes, 
and,  in  addition,  a  coat  of  beaver-skin.^  On  this 
some  murmuring  rose,  several  of  those  who  had 
gone  to  the  Hurons  having  lately  returned  with 
peltry  of  no  small  value.  Their  complaints  were 
vain ;  and  on  the  twentieth  of  July,  amid  the 
roar  of  cannon  from  the  ships,  Lewis  Kirke, 
the  Admiral's  brother,  landed  at  the  head  of  his 
soldiers,  and  planted  the  cross  of  St.  George 
where  the  followers  of  Wolfe  again  planted  it 
a  hundred  and  thirty  years  later.  After  inspect- 
ing the  worthless  fort,  he  repaired  to  the  houses 
of  the  Recollets  and  Jesuits  on  the  St.  Charles. 
He  treated  the  former  with  great  courtesy,  but 
displayed  against  the  latter  a  violent  aversion, 
expressing  his  regret  that  he  could  not  have 
begun   his   operations    by    battering    their   house 

1  Champlain,  (1632,  Seconde  Partie,)  267. 

2  Articles  f/ranted  to   the   Sieurs  Champlain  and  Le  Pont  by   Thomas 
Kearke,  19  July,  1629. 


440  THE  ENGLISH  AT  QUEBEC.  [1629. 

about  their  ears.  The  inhabitants  had  no  cause 
to  complain  of  him.  He  urged  the  widow  and 
family  of  the  settler  Hebert,  the  patriarch,  as  he 
has  been  styled,  of  New  France,  to  remain  and 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  industry  under  English 
allegiance ;  and,  as  beggary  in  France  was  the 
alternative,  his  offer  was  accepted. 

Champlain,  bereft  of  his  command,  grew  rest- 
less, and  begged  to  be  sent  to  Tadoussac,  where 
the  Admiral,  David  Kirke,  lay  with  his  main 
squadron,  having  sent  his  brothers  Lewis  and 
Thomas  to  seize  Quebec.  Accordingly,  Champlain, 
with  the  Jesuits,  embarking  with  Thomas  Kirke, 
descended  the  river.  Off  Mai  Bay  a  strange  sail 
was  seen.  As  she  approached,  she  proved  to  be  a 
French  ship.  In  fact,  she  was  on  her  way  to  Que- 
bec with  supplies,  which,  if  earlier  sent,  would 
have  saved  the  place.  She  had  passed  the  Ad- 
miral's squadron  in  a  fog ;  but  here  her  good 
fortune  ceased.  Thomas  Kirke  bore  down  on  her, 
and  the  cannonade  began.  The  fight  was  hot  and 
doubtful ;  but  at  length  the  French  struck,  and 
Kirke  sailed  into  Tadoussac  with  his  prize.  Here 
lay  his  brother,  the  Admiral,  with  five  armed 
ships. 

The  Admiral's  two  voyages  to  Canada  were  pri- 
vate ventures ;  and,  though  he  had  captured  nine- 
teen fishing-vessels,  besides  Roquemont's  eighteen 
transports  and  other  prizes,  the  result  had  not 
answered  his  hopes.  His  mood,  therefore,  was  far 
from  benign,  especially  as  he  feared,  that,  owing 
to  the  declaration  of  peace,  he  would  be  forced  to 


1629.]  MICHEL   AND  THE   JESUITS.  441 

disgorge  a  part  of  his  booty ;  yet,  excepting  the 
Jesuits,  he  treated  his  captives  with  courtesy,  and 
often  amused  himself  with  shooting  larks  on  shore 
in  company  with  Champlain.  The  Huguenots, 
however,  of  whom  there  were  many  in  his  ships, 
showed  an  exceeding  bitterness  against  the  Cath- 
olics. Chief  among  them  was  Michel,  who  had 
instigated  and  conducted  the  enterprise,  the  mer- 
chant admiral  being  but  an  indifferent  seaman, 
Michel,  whose  skill  was  great,  held  a  high  com- 
mand and  the  title  of  Rear-Admiral.  He  was  a 
man  of  a  sensitive  temperament,  easily  piqued  on 
the  point  of  honor.  His  morbid  and  irritable 
nerves  were  wrought  to  the  pitch  of  frenzy  by  the 
reproaches  of  treachery  and  perfidy  with  which 
the  French  prisoners  assailed  him,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  was  in  a  state  of  continual  rage  at 
the  fancied  neglect  and  contumely  of  his  English 
associates.  He  raved  against  Kirke,  who,  as  he 
declared,  treated  him  with  an  insupportable  arro- 
gance. "  I  have  left  my  country,"  he  exclaimed, 
"  for  the  service  of  foreigners ;  and  they  give  me 
nothing  but  ingratitude  and  scorn."  His  fevered 
mind,  acting  on  his  diseased  body,  often  excited 
him  to  transports  of  fury,  in  which  he  cursed 
indiscriminately  the  people  of  St.  Malo,  against 
whom  he  had  a  grudge,  and  the  Jesuits,  whom  he 
detested.  On  one  occasion,  Kirke  was  conversing 
with  some  of  the  latter. 

"Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "your  business  in  Can- 
ada was  to  enjoy  what  belonged  to  M.  de  Caen, 
whom  you  dispossessed." 


442  THE   ENGLISH  AT   QUEBEC.  [1629. 

^'  Pardon  me,  sir,"  answered  Brebeuf,  "  we  came 
purely  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  exposed  our- 
selves to  every  kind  of  danger  to  convert  the 
Indians." 

Here  Michel  broke  in :  "  Ay,  ay,  convert  the  In- 
dians !     You  mean,  convert  the  beaver !  " 

"  That  is  false  !  "  retorted  Brebeuf. 

Michel  raised  his  fist,  exclaiming,  "  But  for  the 
respect  I  owe  the  General,  I  would  strike  you  for 
giving  me  the  lie." 

Brebeuf,  a  man  of  powerful  frame  and  vehement 
passions,  nevertheless  regained  his  practised  self- 
command,  and  replied  :  "  You  must  excuse  me.  I 
did  not  mean  to  give  you  the  lie.  I  should  be 
very  sorry  to  do  so.  The  words  I  used  are  those 
we  use  in  the  schools  when  a  doubtful  question  is 
advanced,  and  they  mean  no  offence.  Therefore 
I  ask  you  to  pardon  me." 

Despite  the  apology,  Michel's  frenzied  brain 
harped  on  the  presumed  insult,  and  he  raved 
about  it  without  ceasing. 

^'^ Bon  Dieu!''  said  Champlain,  "you  swear  well 
for  a  Reformer !  " 

"  I  know  it,"  returned  Michel ;  "  I  should  be 
content  if  1  had  but  struck  that  Jesuit  who  gave 
me  the  lie  before  my  general." 

At  length,  one  of  his  transports  of  rage  ended  in 
a  lethargy  from  which  he  never  awoke.  His  fu- 
neral was  conducted  with  a  pomp  suited  to  his  rank  ; 
and,  amid  discharges  of  cannon  whose  dreary  roar 
was  echoed  from  the  yawning  gulf  of  the  Saguenay, 
his  body  was  borne  to  its  rest  under  the  rocks  of 


1629.]  EXPLOIT  OF  DANIEL.  443 

Tadoussac.  Good  Catholics  and  good  Frenchmen 
saw  in  his  fate  the  immediate  finger  of  Providence. 
"  I  do  not  doubt  that  his  soul  is  in  perdition,"  re- 
marks Champlain,  who,  however,  had  endeavored 
to  befriend  the  unfortunate  man  during  the  access 
of  his  frenzy.^ 

Having  finished  their  carousings,  which  were 
profuse,  and  their  trade  with  the  Indians,  which 
was  not  lucrative,  the  English  steered  down  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Kirke  feared  greatly  a  meeting  with 
Razilly,  a  naval  officer  of  distinction,^  who  was  to 
have  sailed  from  France  with  a  strong  force  to  suc- 
cor Quebec ;  but,  peace  having  been  proclaimed,  the 
expedition  had  been  limited  to  two  ships  under 
Captain  Daniel.  Thus  Kirke,  wilfully  ignoring 
the  treaty  of  peace,  was  left  to  pursue  his  depre- 
dations unmolested.  Daniel,  however,  though  too 
weak  to  cope  with  him,  achieved  a  signal  exploit. 
On  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  near  the  site  of 
Louisburg,  he  found  an  English  fort,  built  two 
months  before,  under  tlie  auspices,  doubtless,  of  Sir 
William  Alexander.  Daniel,  regarding  it  as  a  bold 
encroachment  on  French  territory,  stormed  it  at 
the  head  of  his  pikemen,  entered  sword  in  hand, 
and  took  it  with  all  its  defenders.^ 


1  Champlain,  (1632,  Seconde  Partie,)  256:  "Je  ne  doute  point  qu'elle 
ne  soit  aux  eufers."  The  dialogue  above  is  literally  translated.  The 
Jesuits  Le  Jeuue  and  Charlevoix  tell  the  story  with  evident  satisfaction. 

2  Claude  de  Eazilly  was  one  of  three  brothers,  all  distinguished  in  the 
marine  service. 

8  Relation  du  Voyacje  fait  par  le  Capitaine  Daniel;  Champlain,  (1632, 
Seconde  Partie,)  271.  Captain  Farrar,  who  commanded  the  fort,  declares, 
however,  that  they  were  "  treacherously  surprised."  Petition  of  Captain 
Constance  Farrar,  Dec,  1629. 


444  THE   ENGLISH   AT   QUEBEC.  [1629. 

Meanwhile,  Kirke  with  his  prisoners  was  cross- 
ing the  Atlantic.  His  squadron  at  length  reached 
Plymouth,  whence  Champlain  set  out  for  London. 
Here  he  had  an  interview  with  the  French  am- 
bassador, who,  at  his  instance,  gained  from  the 
King  a  promise,  that,  in  pursuance  of  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  concluded  in  the  previous  April, 
New  France  should  be  restored  to  the  French 
Crown. 

It  long  remained  a  mystery  why  Charles  con- 
sented to  a  stipulation  which  pledged  him  to 
resign  so  important  a  conquest.  The  mystery  is 
explained  by  the  recent  discovery  of  a  letter  from 
the  King  to  Sir  Isaac  Wake,  his  ambassador  at 
Paris.  The  promised  dowry  of  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria,  amounting  to  eight  hundred  thousand 
crowns,  had  been  but  half  paid  by  the  French 
government,  and  Charles,  then  at  issue  with  his 
Parliament  and  in  desperate  need  of  money,  in- 
structs his  ambassador,  that,  when  he  receives  the 
balance  due,  and  not  before,  he  is  to  give  up  to 
the  French  both  Quebec  and  Port  Royal,  which 
had  also  been  captured  by  Kirke.  The  letter  was 
accompanied  by  "  solemn  instruments  under  our 
hand  and  seal"  to  make  good  the  transfer  on 
fulfilment  of  the  condition.  It  was  for  a  sum 
equal  to  about  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
dollars  that  Charles  entailed  on  Great  Britain  and 
her  colonies  a  century  of  bloody  wars.  The  Kirkes 
and  their  associates,  who  had  made  the  conquest 
at  their  own  cost,  under  the  royal  authority,  were 
never  reimbursed,   though  David  Kirke  received 


1629.]  MOTIVES   OF   CHARLES  I.  445 

the   honor  of    knighthood,   which  cost  the   King 
nothing.^ 

1  Charles  I.  to  Sir  Isaac  Wake,  12  June,  1631,  printed  in  Brjmner, 
Report  on  Canadian  Archives,  1884,  p.  Ix. 

Before  me  is  a  copy  of  the  original  agreement  for  the  restitution  of 
Quebec  and  Port  Royal,  together  with  ships  and  goods  taken  after  the 
peace.  It  is  indorsed.  Articles  arreste's  entre  les  Deputes  des  Deux  Couronnes 
pour  la  Restitution  des  Chases  qui  ont  e'te'  prinses  depuis  le  Traicle'  de  Pai.r  fait 
entre  elles;  24  Avril,  1629.  It  was  not  till  two  years  later  that  King 
Charles  carried  it  into  effect,  on  receiving  the  portion  of  the  Queen.  See 
also  Lettres  de  Chateauneuf,  Ambassadeur  de  France,  au  Curaincd  de  Riche- 
lieu, Nov.,  Dec,  1629,  and  Memorial  of  the  French  Ambassador  to  King 
Charles,  Feb.,  1630;  Lord  Dorchester  to  Sir  Isaac  iVaU,  15  April,  1630; 
Examination  of  Capt.  David  Kirke  before  Sir  Henry  Marten,  27  May  (?), 
1631;  The  King  to  Sir  William  Alexander,  12  June,  1632;  Extrait  con- 
cernant  ce  qui  s'est  pass^dans  I'Acadie  et  le  Canada  en  1627  et  1628  tire'  d'un 
Requete  du  Chevalier  Louis  Kirk,  in  Me'moires  des  Commissaij-es,  11.275; 
Literce  continentes  Promissionem  Regis  ad  tradendum,  etc.,  in  Hazard,  I.  314; 
Traite'  de  Paix  fait  a  Suze,  Ibid.  319  ;  Reglemens  entre  les  Roys  de  France  et 
d'Angleterre,  in  Mercure  Fran^ais,  XVIII.  39 ;  Rushworth,  II.  24 ;  Traite' 
entre  le  Roi  Louis  XIII.  et  Charles  I.,  Roi  d'Angleterre,  pour  la  Restitution  de 
la  Nouvelle  France,  I'Acadie,  et  Canada,  29  Mars,  1632. 

In  the  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres  is  a  letter,  not  signed,  but 
evidently  written  by  Champlain,  apparently  ou  the  16th  of  October,  the  day 
of  his  arrival  in  England.  It  gives  a  few  details  not  in  his  printed  narra- 
tive. It  states  that  Lewis  Kirke  took  two  silver  chalices  from  a  chest  of 
the  Jesuits,  on  which  the  Jesnit  Masse  said,  "Do  not  profane  them,  for 
they  are  sacred."  "Profane  them!"  returned  Kirke;  "since  you  tell  me 
that,  I  will  keep  them,  which  I  would  not  have  done  otherwise.  I  take 
them  because  you  believe  in  them,  for  I  will  have  no  idolatry." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1632-1635. 

DEATH   OF   CHAMPLAIN. 

New  France  restored  to  the  French  Crown.  —  Zeal  of  Cham- 
PLAIN. —  The  English  leave  Quebec.  —  Return  of  Jesuits. — 
Arrival  of  Chabiplain.  —  Daily  Life  at  Quebec.  —  Propa- 
GANDisM.  —  Policy  and  Religion.  —  Death  of  Champlain. 

On  Monday,  the  fifth  of  July,  1632,  lEmery  de 
Caen  anchored  before  Quebec.  He  was  commis- 
sioned by  the  French  Crown  to  reclaim  the  place 
from  the  English ;  to  hold,  for  one  year,  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  fur-trade,  as  an  indemnity  for  his 
losses  in  the  war ;  and,  when  this  time  had  ex- 
pired, to  give  place  to  the  Hundred  Associates  of 
New  France.^ 

By  the  convention  of  Suza,  New  France  was  to 
be  restored  to  the  French  Crown ;  yet  it  had  been 
matter  of  debate  whether  a  fulfilment  of  this 
engagement  was  worth  the  demanding.  That 
wilderness  of  woods  and  savages  had  been  ruin- 
ous to  nearly  all  connected  with  it.  The  Caens, 
successful  at  first,  had  suffered  heavily  in  the  end. 
The  Associates  were  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 
These  deserts  were  useless  unless  peopled;  and 
to  people  them  would  depopulate  France.  Thus 
argued  the  inexperienced  reasoners  of  the  time, 

1  Articles  accorde's  au  Sr.  de  Caen ;  Acte  de  Protestation  du  Sr.  de  Caen. 


1632.]  OLD   AND  NEW  FRANCE.  447 

judging  from  the  wretched  precedents  of  Spanish 
and  Portuguese  colonization.  The  world  had  not 
as  yet  the  example  of  an  island  kingdom,  which, 
vitalized  by  a  stable  and  regulated  liberty,  has 
j)eopled  a  continent  and  spread  colonies  over  all 
the  earth,  gaining  constantly  new  vigor  with  the 
matchless  growth  of  its  offspring. 

On  the  other  hand,  honor,  it  was  urged,  de- 
manded that  France  should  be  reinstated  in  the 
land  which  she  had  discovered  and  explored. 
Should  she,  the  centre  of  civilization,  remain 
cooped  up  within  her  own  narrow  limits,  while 
rivals  and  enemies  were  sharing  the  vast  regions 
of  the  West  ?  The  commerce  and  fisheries  of  New 
France  would  in  time  become  a  school  for  French 
sailors.  Mines  even  now  might  be  discovered ; 
and  the  fur-trade,  well  conducted,  could  not  but  be 
a  source  of  wealth.  Disbanded  soldiers  and  women 
from  the  streets  might  be  shipped  to  Canada. 
Thus  New  France  would  be  peopled  and  old 
France  purified.  A  power  more  potent  than  rea- 
son reinforced  such  arguments.  Richelieu  seems 
to  have  regarded  it  as  an  act  of  personal  encroach- 
ment that  the  subjects  of  a  foreign  crown  should 
seize  on  the  domain  of  a  company  of  which  he 
was  the  head ;  and  it  could  not  be  supposed,  that, 
with  power  to  eject  them,  the  arrogant  minister 
would  suffer  them  to  remain  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session. 

A  spirit  far  purer  and  more  generous  was  active 
in  the  same  behalf.  The  character  of  Champlain 
belonged  rather  to  the  Middle  Age  than  to  the 


448  DEATH   OF    CHAMPLAIN.  [1632. 

seventeenth  century.  Long  toil  and  endurance 
had  cgjmed  the  adventurous  enthusiasm  of  his 
youth  into  a  steadfast  earnestness  of  purpose ;  and 
he  gave  himself  with  a  loyal  zeal  and  devatedness 
to  the  profoundly  mistaken  principles  which  he 
had  espoused.  In  his  mind,  patriotism  and  re- 
ligion were  inseparably  linked.  France  was  the 
champion  of  Christianity,  and  her  honor,  her 
greatness,  were  involved  in  her  fidelity  to  this 
high  function.  Should  she  abandon  to  perdition 
the  darkened  nations  among  whom  she  had  cast 
tlie  first  faint  rays  of  hope  ?  Among  the  members 
of  the  Company  were  those  who  shared  his  zeal ; 
and  though  its  capi-tal  was  exliausted,  and  many 
of  the  merchants  were  withdrawing  in  despair, 
these  enthusiasts  formed  a  subordinate  association, 
raised  a  new  fund,  and  embarked  on  the  venture 
afresh.^ 

England,  then,  resigned  her  prize,  and  Caen  was 
despatched  to  reclaim  Quebec  from  the  reluctant 
hands  of  Thomas  Kirke.  The  latter,  obedient  to 
an  order  from  the  King  of  England,  struck  his 
flag,  embarked  his  followers,  and  abandoned  the 
scene  of  his  conquest.  Caen  landed  with  the  Jes- 
uits, Paul  le  Jeune  and  Anne  de  la  None.  They 
climbed  the  steep  stairway  which  led  up  the  rock, 
and,  as  they  reached  the  top,  the  dilapidated  fort 
lay  on  their  left,  while  farther  on  was  the  stone 
cottage  of  the  Heberts,  surrounded  with  its  vege- 
table gardens,  —  the  only  thrifty  spot  amid  a 
scene  of  nes-lect.     But  few  Indians  could  be  seen. 

o 
1  ^tat  de  la  defense  de  la  Compagnie  de  la  Nouvelle  France. 


i633.]  CHAMPLAIN   RESUMES   COMMAND.  449 

True  to  their  native  instincts,  they  had,  at  first, 
left  the  defeated  French  and  welcomed  the  con- 
querors. Their  English  partialities  were,  however, 
but  short-lived.  Their  intrusion  into  houses  and 
storerooms,  the  stench  of  their  tobacco,  and  their 
importunate  .begging,  though  before  borne  pa- 
tiently, were  rewarded  by  the  new-comers  with 
oaths,  and  sometimes  with  blows.  The  Indians 
soon  shunned  Quebec,  seldom  approaching  it  ex- 
cept when  drawn  by  necessity  or  a  craving  for 
brandy.  This  was  now  the  case ;  and  several  Al- 
gonquin families,  maddened  with  drink,  were 
howling,  screeching,  and  fighting  within  their 
bark  lodges.  The  women  were  frenzied  like  the 
men.  It  was  dangerous  to  approach  the  place 
unarmed.^ 

In  the  following  spring,  1633,  on  the  twenty- 
third  of  May,  Champlain,  commissioned  anew  by 
Richelieu,  resumed  command  at  Quebec  in  behalf 
of  the  Company.^  Father  le  Jeune,  Superior  of 
the  mission,  was  wakened  from  his  morning  sleep 
by  the  boom  of  the  saluting  cannon.  Before  he 
could  sally  forth,  the  convent  door  was  darkened 
by  the  stately  form  of  his  brother  Jesuit,  Brebeuf, 
newly  arrived ;  and  the  Indians  who  stood  by 
uttered  ejaculations  of  astonishment  at  the  rap- 
tures of  their  greeting.  The  father  hastened  to 
the  fort,  and  arrived  in  time  to  see  a  file  of  mus- 
keteers and  pikemen  mounting  the  pathway  of 

1  Relation  du  Voynqe  fait  a  Canada  pour  la  Prise  de  Possession  dit  Fort 
de  Quebec  par  les  Francois,  in  Mercnre  Francois,  XVIII. 

2  Voyage  de  Champlain,  in  Mercnre  Francais,  XIX. ;  Lettre  de  Caen 
a  .  ,  ,  , 

29 


450  DEATH   OF    CHAMPLAIN.  [1633. 

the  cliff  below,  and  the  heretic  Caen  resigning  the 
keys  of  the  citadel  into  the  Catholic  hands  of 
Champlain.  Le  Jeune's  delight  exudes  in  praises 
of  one  not  always  a  theme  of  Jesuit  eulogy,  but 
on  whom,  in  the  hope  of  a  continuance  of  his  fa- 
vors, no  praise  could  now  be  ill  bestowed.  "I 
sometimes  think  that  this  great  man  [Richelieu], 
who  by  his  admirable  wisdom  and  matchless  con- 
duct of  affairs  is  so  renowned  on  earth,  is  preparing 
for  himself  a  dazzling  crown  of  glory  in  heaven 
by  the  care  he  evinces  for  the  conversion  of  so 
many  lost  infidel  souls  in  this  savage  land.  I  pray 
affectionately  for  him  every  day,"  etc.^ 

For  Champlain,  too,  he  has  praises  which,  if 
more  measured,  are  at  least  as  sincere.  Indeed, 
the  Father  Superior  had  the  best  reason  to  be 
pleased  with  the  temporal  head  of  the  colony.  In 
his  youth,  Champlain  had  fought  on  the  side  of 
that  more  liberal  and  national  form  of  Romanism 
of  which  the  Jesuits  were  the  most  emphatic  an- 
tagonists. Now,  as  Le  Jeune  tells  us,  with  evident 
contentment,  he  chose  him^  the  Jesuit,  as  director 
of  his  conscience.  In  truth,  there  were  none  but 
Jesuits  to  confess  and  absolve  him  ;  for  the  Recol- 
lets,  prevented,  to  their  deep  chagrin,  from  return- 
ing to  the  missions  they  had  founded,  were  seen 
no  more  in  Canada,  and  the  followers  of  Loyola 
were  sole  masters  of  the  field. ^     The  manly  heart 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  26  (Quebec,  1858). 

2  Me'moire  fakt  en  1637  pour  l' Affaire  des  Peres  Re'collectz  ....  tou- 
chant  le  Droit  qu'ils  ont  depnis  I' An  1615  d'afler  en  Qnanada.  Memoire  in- 
struct if  contenant  la  Conduite  des  Peres  Recollects  de  Paris  en  lew  Mission  de 
Canada, 


1633.]  QUEBEC  A  MISSION.  451 

of  the  commandant,  earnest,  zealous,  and  direct, 
was  seldom  chary  of  its  confidence,  or  apt  to  stand 
too  warily  on  its  guard  in  presence  of  a  profound 
art  mingled  with  a  no  less  profound  sincerity. 

A  stranger  visiting  the  fort  of  Quebec  would 
have  been  astonished  at  its  air  of  conventual  deco- 
rum. Black  Jesuits  and  scarfed  officers  mingled 
at  Champlain's  table.  There  was  little  conversa- 
tion, but,  in  its  place,  histories  and  the  lives  of 
saints  were  read  aloud,  as  in  a  monastic  refectory.^ 
Prayers,  masses,  and  confessions  followed  one  an- 
other with  an  edifying  regularity,  and  the  bell 
of  the  adjacent  chapel,  built  by  Champlain,  rang 
morning,  noon,  and  night.  Godless  soldiers  caught 
the  infection,  and  whipped  themselves  in  penance 
for  their  sins.  Debauched  artisans  outdid  each 
other  in  the  fury  of  their  contrition.  Quebec  was 
become  a  mission.  Indians  gathered  thither  as  of 
old,  not  from  the  baneful  lure  of  brandy,  for  the 
traffic  in  it  was  no  longer  tolerated,  but  from  the 
less  pernicious  attractions  of  gifts,  kind  words,  and 
politic  blandishments.  To  the  vital  principle  of 
propagandism  both  the  commercial  and  the  military 
character  were  subordinated  ;  or,  to  speak  more 
justly,  trade,  policy,  and  military  power  leaned 
on  the  missions  as  their  main  support,  the  grand 
instrument  of  their  extension.  The  missions  were 
to  explore  the  interior ;  the  missions  were  to  win 
over  the  savage  hordes  at  once  to  Heaven  and  to 
France.      Peaceful,   benign,  beneficent,   were   the 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1634,  2  (Quebec,  1858).      Compare  Du   Creux, 
Historia  Canadensis,  156. 


452  DEATH   OF   CIIAMPLAm.  [1635. 

weapons  of  this  conquest.  France  aimed  to  sub- 
due, not  by  the  sword,  but  by  the.  cross ;  not  to 
overwhelm  and  crush  the  nations  she  invaded,  but 
to  convert,  civilize,  and  embrace  them  among  her 
children. 

And  who  were  the  instruments  and  the  pro- 
moters of  this  proselytism,  at  once  so  devout  and 
so  politic?  Who  can  answer?  who  can  trace  out 
the  crossing  and  mingling  currents  of  wisdom  and 
folly,  ignorance  and  knowledge,  truth  and  false- 
hood, weakness  and  force,  the  noble  and  the  base, 
—  can  analyze  a  systematized  contradiction,  and 
follow  through  its  secret  wheels,  springs,  and  levers 
a  phenomenon  of  moral  mechanism  ?  Who  can 
define  the  Jesuits  ?  The  story  of  their  missions  is 
marvellous  as  a  tale  of  chivalry,  or  legends  of  the 
lives  of  saints.  For  many  years,  it  was  the  history 
of  New  France  and  of  the  wild  communities  of  her 
desert  empire. 

Two  years  passed.  The  mission  of  the  Hurons 
was  established,  and  here  the  indomitable  Brebeuf, 
with  a  band  worthy  of  him,  toiled  amid  miseries 
and  perils  as  fearful  as  ever  shook  the  constancy 
of  man ;  while  Champlain  at  Quebec,  in  a  life  un- 
eventful, yet  harassing  and  laborious,  was  busied 
in  the  round  of  cares  which  his  post  involved. 

Christmas  day,  1635,  was  a  dark  day  in  the 
annals  of  New  France.  In  a  chamber  of  the  fort, 
breathless  and  cold,  lay  the  hardy  frame  which 
war,  the  wilderness,  and  the  sea  had  buffeted  so 
long  in  vain.  After  two  months  and  a  half  of  ill- 
ness, Champlain,  stricken  with  paralysis,  at  the 


1635.]  HIS  CHARACTER.  453 

age  of  sixty-eight,  was  dead.  His  last  cares  were 
for  his  colony  and  the  succor  of  its  suffering  fami- 
lies. Jesuits,  officers,  soldiers,  traders,  and  the 
few  settlers  of  Quebec,  followed  his  remains  to 
the  church ;  Le  Jeune  pronounced  his  eulogy,^  and 
the  feeble  community  built  a  tomb  to  his  honor.^ 

The  colony  could  ill  spare  him.  For  twenty- 
seven  years  he  had  labored  hard  and  ceaselessly 
for  its  welfare,  sacrificing  fortune,  repose,  and 
domestic  peace  to  a  cause  embraced  with  enthu- 
siasm and  pursued  with  intrepid  persistency.  His 
character  belonged  partly  to  the  past,  partly  to 
the  present.  The  preux  chevalier,  the  crusader, 
the  romance-loving  explorer,  the  curious,  knowl- 
edge-seeking traveller,  the  practical  navigator,  all 
claimed  their  share  in  him.  His  views,  though 
far  beyond  those  of  the  mean  spirits  around  him, 
belonged  to  his  age  and  his  creed.  He  was  less 
statesman  than  soldier.  He  leaned  to  the  most 
direct  and  boldest  policy,  and  one  of  his  last  acts 
was  to  petition  Richelieu  for  men  and  munitions 
for  repressing  that  standing  menace  to  the  colony, 
the  Iroquois.^  His  dauntless  courage  was  matched 
by  an  unwearied  patience,  proved  by  life-long  vex- 
ations, and  not  wholly  subdued  even  by  the  saintly 
follies  of  his  wife.     He  is  charged  with  credulity, 

1  Le  Jcune,  Relation,  1636,  56  (Quebec,  1858). 

2  Viniont,  Relntinn,  1643,  3  (Quebec,  1858).  A  supposed  discovery, 
in  1865,  of  the  burial-place  of  Champlaiu,  produced  a  sharp  controversy  at 
Quebec.  Champlain  made  a  will,  leaving  4,000  livres,  with  other  property, 
to  the  Jesuits.  The  will  was  successfully  contested  before  the  Parliament 
of  Paris,  and  was  annulled  on  the  ground  of  informality. 

3  Lettre  de  Champlain  au  Ministre,  15  Aout,  1635. 


454  DEATH   OF   CHAMPLAIN.  [1635. 

from  which  few  of  his  age  were  free,  and  which  in 
all  ages  has  been  the  foible  of  earnest  and  generous 
natures,  too  ardent  to  criticise,  and  too  honorable 
to  doubt  the  honor  of  others.  Perhaps  the  heretic 
might  have  liked  him  more  if  the  Jesuit  had  liked 
him  less.  The  adventurous  explorer  of  Lake  Hu- 
ron, the  bold  invader  of  the  Iroquois,  befits  but 
indifferently  the  monastic  sobrieties  of  the  fort  of 
Quebec,  and  his  sombre  environment  of  priests. 
Yet  Champlain  was  no  formalist,  nor  was  his  an 
empty  zeal.  A  soldier  from  his  youth,  in  an  age 
of  unbridled  license,  his  life  had  answered  to  his 
maxims ;  and  when  a  generation  had  passed  after 
his  visit  to  the  Hurons,  their  elders  remembered 
with  astonishment  the  continence  of  the  great 
French  war-chief. 

His  books  mark  the  man,  —  all  for  his  theme 
and  his  purpose,  nothing  for  himself.  Crude  in 
style,  full  of  the  superficial  errors  of  carelessness 
and  haste,  rarely  diffuse,  often  brief  to  a  fault, 
they  bear  on  every  page  the  palpable  impress  of 
truth. 

With  the  life  of  the  faithful  soldier  closes  the 
opening  period  of  New  France.  Heroes  of  another 
stamp  succeed ;  and  it  remains  to  tell  the  story 
of  their  devoted  lives,  their  faults,  follies,  and 
virtues. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Abenakis  Indians,  the  adventure  of 
Biencourt  with  the,  291,  292. 

Acadia,  De  Monts's  scheme  to  colonize, 
243;  derivation  of  the  name,  243 
7iote ;  granted  Madame  de  Guerclie- 
ville,  297  ;  the  ruin  of,  314. 

Adieu  a  la  France,  200. 

Adirondack  Mountains,  345. 

Alabama,  State  of,  15. 

Alexander,  Sir  William,  his  attempts 
to  colonize  Acadia,  434;  mentioned, 
443. 

Alexander  the  Sixth,  Pope,  201,  385. 

Algonquin  Indians,  the,  242,  337 
note ;  at  Tadoussac,  328  ;  a  war 
feast  at  Quebec,  340 ;  led  by  Cham- 
plain  against  the  Iroquois,  340 ; 
their  bad  faith  to  him,  342;  their 
encampment,  343,  346  ;  their  oracle, 
344;  their  route  towards  the  enemy, 
346 ;  meet  the  Iroquois,  348  ;  the 
fight  with  the  Iroquois,  350;  their 
victory,  351;  their  retreat,  351; 
their  settlement  on  the  Ottawa,  374 
note  ;  on  Lake  Huron,  394  note ; 
involved  in  a  fight  concerning  an 
Iroquois  prisoner,  414. 

Allen's  River,  270. 

Allumettes  Lakes,  393. 

Alphonse,  Jean,  a  pilot,  253. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  his  influence  over 
Catharine  de  Medicis,  101 ;  men- 
tioned, 154. 

Amboise,  the  Peace  of,  49. 

Ameda,  an  evergreen  with  healing 
properties,  214,  214  note, 

America,  discovery  of,  by  Spain,  9; 
Spanish  adventurers  in,  9,  14-18. 

Anastasia  Island,  132,  133. 

Andastes,  an  Indian  tribe,  400. 

Annapolis  Harbor,  discovered  by  De 
Monts,  247. 

Annapolis  River,  called  Equille  and 
Dauphin,  257,  266. 


Antarctic  France,  32. 

Anticosti,  Island  of,  200,  202. 

Appalache,  village  in  Florida,  12. 

Archer's  Creek,  41. 

Arciniega,  Sancho  de,  joins  Menendez, 
105. 

Argall,  Samuel,  Captain,  arrives  at 
Jamestown,  306;  abduction  of  Po- 
cahontas by,  306  ;  sails  for  the 
coast  of  Maine,  306;  interviews  the 
Indians,  307;  attacks  the  French  at 
Mount  Desert,  308  ;  seizes  their 
commissions  and  propertj',  309 ;  his 
treatment  of  his  prisoners,  310;  de- 
stroys the  French  settlements  at 
Mount  Desert  and  St.  Croix,  313; 
second  expedition  to  Mount  Desert, 
313;  demolishes  Port  Royal,  314; 
interview  with  Biencourt,  316 ;  re- 
turns to  Virginia,  317;  concerning 
the  Dutch  at  Manhattan,  317;  be- 
comes Deputy-Governor  of  Virginia, 
321 ;  his  arbitrary  government  there, 
321;  knighted  by  King  James,  321. 

Arkansas  River,  12  note,  15. 

Arlac,  ensign  to  Laudonni^re,  65 ;  car- 
ries prisoners  home  to  Outina,  65; 
joins  the  Thimagoas  in  an  attack 
against  Potanou,  66;  releases  Lau- 
donniere,  74  ;  mentioned,  80 ;  goes 
to  Outina  for  provisions,  85 ;  in 
battle  with  the  Indians,  87;  joins 
Ribault  in  attack  on  Menendez,  116. 

Armouchiquois  Indians,  253,  273. 

Arques,  the  battle  of,  240. 

Asticou,  an  Indian  chief  at  Mount  De- 
sert, 303. 

Astina,  an  Indian  chief,  83. 

Athore,  son  of  Satouriona,  64. 

Aubert,  of  Dieppe,  explores  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  192. 

Aubrv,  Nicolas,  lost  in  the  Acadian 
forest,  246  ;  found,  249. 

Audubon,  J.  J.,  59. 

Audusta,  Indian  chief,  42. 

Avacal,  202  note. 


458 


INDEX. 


Ayllon,  Vasquez  de,  discoveries  of,  in 
"Florida,  11 ;  named  the  river  Jor- 
dan, 11  note. 


B. 


Baccalaos,  a  name  of  Newfoundland, 
189  note. 

Bahama  Channel,  108,  IGl. 

Bahama  Islands,  10. 

Bailleul,  a  pilot,  .307. 

Barcia,  account  of  Meneidez's  attack 
on  French  at  Florida,  112  note, 

Barre,  Nicolas,  commanded  the  Co- 
ligny  colonists,  44. 

Bart  rams,  the,  59. 

Basin  of  Chambly,  341. 

Basques,  the,  in  America,  152,  188; 
engaged  in  fur-trade,  326  ;  peace 
established  with,  328. 

Bauldre,  Fran^-ois  de,  235  note. 

Bay  of  Espiritu  Santo,  landing  of  De 
Soto  at,  14  note. 

Bay  of  Fund  V,  De  Monts  explores,  247 ; 
mentioned'.  248,  310. 

Bay  of  Penobscot,  306. 

Bav  of  St.  Lawrence.  202. 

BaV  of  the  Trinitv,  328. 

Bayard,  death  of,'  198. 

Bazares,  Guido  de  las,  expedition  to 
Florida,  17. 

Beauchamp,  Rev.  W.  M.,  403  note. 

Beaufort,  S.  C,  41. 

Beaumont,  at  St.  Croix,  251. 

Beauport,  former  name  of  Gloucester, 
Mass.,  254. 

Beaupr^,  Vicomte  de,  has  charge  of 
forts  at  Charlesbourg-Roval,  221. 

Belle  Isle,  Straits  of,  200,  202. 

BelcEil,  the  cliffs  of,  341. 

Berjon,  Jean,  250. 

Berthier,  329. 

Blard,  Pierre,  286 ;  sails  for  Port  Royal, 
288;  confesses  Pontgrave's  son,  290; 
makes  an  excursion  with  Biencourt, 
291;  account  of  his  adventure  with 
the  Abenakis  Indians,  292;  accounts 
of  the  Indian  Membertou,  &c.,  293, 
294;  learning  the  Indian  language, 
294 ;  his  prophecy,  296;  the  mission- 
ary, 277,  277  note;  carried  by  La 
Saussaye  to  Mount  Desert,  302;"  visit 
to  Asticou,  .S03;  quoted,  310.311,322, 
322  note;  taken  captive  to  Virginia, 
311;  accompanies  Argall  on  his  ex- 
pedition, 313;  conduct  of,  at  the 
attack  on  Port  Royal,  315 :  driven  by 
a  storm  to  the  Azores,  .317;  recom- 
mended as  a  subject  for  the  gallows, 
318;  Turners  confidence  in  him, 
318 ;  kept  a  prisoner  while  at  Fayal, 


319;  before  the  Vice- Admiral  at 
Pembroke,  320;  sent  to  Calais,  320. 

Biencourt,  a  son  of  Poutrincourt,  280; 
his  audience  with  the  Queen,  282; 
sails  for  Port  Royal,  288;  left  in 
charge  at  Port  Royal,  291;  makes 
an  excursion  along  the  coast,  291 ; 
takes  some  prisoners,  and  levies 
tribute  on  traders,  291;  his  ad- 
venture with  the  Abenakis  Indians, 
292;  quarreb  with  the  .lesuits,  298; 
interview  with  Argall.  316;  his 
anger  against  Biard,  317;  partially 
rebuilds  Port  Royal,  322,  322  note. 

Bimiiii,  Island  of,  explored  by  Ponce 
de  Leon,  10. 

Bison,  the  vast  herds  of,  15,  15  note. 

Black  drink,  the,  in  use  among  the 
Indians,  166,  166  note. 

Blavet,  the  Spaniards  evacuate,  237. 

Bois-Lecomte,  commands  expedition 
to  Florida,  27. 

Bon  Temps,  Order  of,  at  Port  Roval, 
268,  269. 

Borgia,  General  of  the  Jesuits,  177. 

Boston  Harbor,  Champlain  at,  254. 

Boalay,  at  St.  Croix,  251. 

Bourdet,  Captain,  arrival  in  Florida, 
70. 

Bourdelais,  Fran9ois,  an  officer  with 
Gourgues,  167. 

Brant  Point,  254. 

Brazil,  curious  animals  of,  28  note. 

Brebeuf,  Jean  de,  Jesuit,  arrival  of,  in 
Canada,  424;  concerning  his  mis- 
sion to  the  Hurons,  425;  Michel 
quarrels  with  him,  442;  returns  to 
Quebec,  449;  his  mission  work  in 
New  France,  452. 

Breton,  Christophe  le,  escapes  Me- 
nendez's  butchery,  145,  147  note. 

Bretons,  the,  in  America,  ]5'2,  188; 
fishermen,  at  Newfoundland,  229. 

Brion-Chabot,  Philippe  de.  Admiral  of 
France,  199. 

Brissac,  Marechal  de.  368. 

Broad  River,  39  note. 

Brouage   town  of,  360,  384. 

Brule,  £tienne,  an  interpreter,  393, 
397;  iiis  mission  to  the  Carantouans, 
400;  meets  Champlain  after  three 
vears,  406;  his  adventures  with  the 
Indians,  406-409 ;  reaches  the  Sus- 
quehanna, 407 ;  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Iroquois,  408;  his  tortures,  408; 
predicts  vengeance  against  the  Iro- 
quois, 409  ;  arrives  at  Montreal,  409 ; 
his  death,  409  note. 

Buccaneers,  leave  Fort  Caroline,  73; 
return,  and  sentenced  to  death,  76. 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  433. 

Bvng  Inlet,  395. 


INDEX. 


459 


Cabepa  de  Vaca,  Alvar  Nunez,  in  ex- 
pedition with  Narvaez,  12  note,  13. 
Cabot,  Sebastian,  189  note,  313. 
Cadiz,  %il. 

Caen,  Emery  de,  his  religious  exer- 
cises prohibited,  426;  arrives  at 
Quebec,  his  coininission,  446;  talces 
possession  of  Quebec,  448. 
Caen,  William  and  Winery,  traders 
with  Quebec,  423,  424;  their  mo- 
nopoly of  the  trade,  427,  427  note ; 
their  privileges  annulled,  429;  men- 

•    tioned,  436. 

Cahiague,  arrival  of  Champlain  at, 
399;  beauty  of  the  country  about, 
399 ;  gathering  of  Indian  warriors 
at,  400;  Champlain  and  the  Indians 
return  to,  413. 

Caille,  Francois  de  la,  sergeant  to  Lau- 
donniere,  63;  proposal  to  turn  bucca- 
neer, 71,  71  note;  breaks  with  the 
buccaneers,  72;  captures  the  muti- 
neers, 74,  75. 

Calibogue  Sound,  43. 

Caloosa  Kiver,  79. 

Calos,  King  of,  an  Indian  chief  and 
magician,  79. 

Calumet,  the  rapids  of,  382. 

Calvin,  John,  21,  179,  201,  433;  his 
controversy'  with  Villegagnon,  31. 

Calvinists,  arrival  of,  at  Ganabara,  28; 
tyranny  of  Villegagnon  to,  30;  re- 
turn to  France,  31. 

Canada,  derivation  of  the  word,  202 
note ;  extent  of,  202  note. 

Canaries,  105. 

Cancello,  a  Dominican  monk  in  Flor- 
ida, 7. 

Cannibalism  among  the  Indians,  359 
note. 

Canseau,  a  fur-trading  post,  246,  264. 

Cap  aux  Isles,  former  name  of  Cape 
Ann,  254. 

Cap  Blanc,  255. 

Cap  la  Heve,  on  coast  of  Nova  Scotia, 
246. 

Cap  Rouge,  Cartier's  party  at,  221; 
Roberval's  landing  at,  225;  Rober- 
val  builds  at,  225. 

Cape  Ann,  254. 

Cape  Blanco,  159. 

Cape  Breton,  190  note ;  a  fur-trading 
post,  264 ;  seizure  of  a  fort  at,  443. 

Cape  Canaveral,  79,  133. 

Cape  Cod,  called  by  Champlain  Cap 
Blanc,  255 ;  the  Indians  at,  attack 
Champlain's  party,  264. 

Cape  Diamond,  330  note. 

Cape  Finisterre,  159. 

Cape  Sable,  246,  310. 


Cape  St.  Helena,  formerly  Chicora, 
39  note. 

Cape  San  Antonio,  Gourgues  lands  at, 
160. 

Cape  Tourmente,  203;  attacked  by 
the  English  fleet,  435;  Champlain 
establishes  an  outpost  at,  435. 

Cape  Verd,  160. 

Carantouan,  a  palisaded  town,  407. 

Carantouan  Indians,  400. 

Carhagouha,  a  Huron  town,  397. 

Caribou,  rapids  of,  393. 

Carillon,  rapids  of,  369. 

Carmaron,  Champlain  at,  397. 

Cartier,  .Jacques,  sails  for  Newfound- 
land, 200;  return  to  France,  200;  his 
portrait,  200  note  ;  makes  a  second 
vo^-age,  201 ;  explores  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  203;  ascends  the  St. 
Charles  River,  204;  gifts  to  the  In- 
dians, 205;  marches  for  Hochelaga, 
207;  received  by  the  Indians  at 
Hochelaga,  260;  heals  the  sick  In- 
dians, 210,  211 ;  winters  on  the  St. 
Charles,  212;  breaking  out  of  the 
scurvy  among  his  men,  213;  kid- 
naps Donnacona.  and  returns  to 
France,  215;  plants  the  cross  on  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Charles,  215;  made 
Captain-General,  216  ;  makes  a  sec- 
ond voyage  to  Canada,  216 ;  the  ob- 
ject of  his  enterprise,  217;  his  party 
consists  of  thieves,  robbers,  &c., 
217 ;  sails  for  Canada,  and  arrives  at 
Quebec,  220;  builds  forts  and  win- 
ters at  Charlesbourg-Royal,  221; 
explores  the  St.  Lawrence,  221 ; 
abandons  Canada  and  arrives  in 
France,  221,  222,  222  note ;  sent  to 
bring  Roberval, 227;  mentioned,  396. 

Casco  Bav,  253. 

Cathay,  the  kingdom  of,  194,  198. 

Catholic  and   Calvinist,  disputes   be- 
tween, 245. 
Cazenove,  an  officer  with  Gourgues, 

170,  172. 
Chabot,  commissions  Cartier,  201. 
Challeux,  escapes  from  the  Spaniards 
at  Fort   Caroline,    124,    129;   men- 
tioned, 146  7iote. 
Champdore,  a  pilot  with  Champlain, 

248;  at  Port  Royal,  257. 
Champlain,  Madame,  at  Quebec,  421; 

founds  a  convent,  death  of,  422. 
Champlain,  Samuel  de,  early  life,  237; 
spirit  of  adventure,  237;  his  ex- 
perience in  the  army,  237;  receives 
a  pension,  237  ;  his  illustrated  jour- 
nal, 238,  239  note ;  his  plan  for 
a  ship-canal,  239;  his  favor  from 
the  King,  239;  his  West-Indian  ad- 
venture, 239;  joins  De  Chastes  in 


460 


INDEX. 


expedition  to  Canada,  241 ;  explores 
the  St.  Lawrence,  242;  passes  the 
rapids  of  St.  Louis,  242;  quoted, 
245;  explores  the  Bay  of  Fund}', 
247 ;  builds  his  house  at  St.  Croix, 
250;  explores  the  coast  of  Maine, 
253;  of  New  Hampshire  and  Massa- 
chusetts, 254;  adventure  with  the 
Indians  at  Cape  Cod,  255,  264;  his 
trustworthy  account  of  New  Eng- 
land coast,  25fi;  makes  a  second 
trip  along  Massachusetts  coast,  204; 
arrives  at  Port  Koyal,  265 ;  at 
Mount  Desert  in  a'  storm,  265; 
abandons  Port  Koyal  and  sails  for 
France,  274 ;  at  Paris,  325 ;  his  de- 
sire for  exploration,  325;  makes 
second  expedition  to  Canada,  326; 
encounters  the  Basque  fur-traders, 
326;  arrives  at  Tadoussac,  326;  sails 
up  the  St.  Lawrence,  328;  com- 
mences building  at  Quebec,  331;  the 
plot  to  kill  him,  331 ;  he  disposes  of 
tlie  mutineers,  332 ;  spends  the  win- 
ter at  Quebec,  333,  335;  his  kind 
treatment  of  the  Montagnais,  334; 
sickness  and  death  of  his  company, 
335;  the  policy  of  his  alh'ing  him- 
self with  the  "Indians,  337;  joins  a 
war  party,  339;  visits  the  Algon- 
quin camp,  339;  sails  up  the  Riche- 
lieu, 340;  advances  toward  the 
enemy,  342-347;  explores  the  St. 
John,  341 ;  the  Indians'  bad  faith  to- 
ward him,  342;  his  encampment,  343 
note ;  discovers  Lake  Champlain, 
345 ;  encamps  there,  346 ;  his  dream, 
347;  meets  the  Iroquois,  348;  his 
armor,  349,  349  note:  the  fight.  350; 
the  Indians'  gift  to  him.  352;  re- 
turns to  Quebec  and  Tadoussac, 
352;  returns  to  France,  353:  his  in- 
terview with  the  King,  353;  his  ill- 
ness, 353;  sails  again  for  Canada, 
353;  arrives  at  Tadoussac,  354; 
secures  the  Indians  as  guides,  354; 
a  second  fight  with  the  Iroquois, 
355-358 ;  wounded  by  an  arrow,  357 ; 
his  garden  at  Quebec,  360,  360  note; 
at  Hontleur,  361;  in  the  ice  at  New- 
foundland, 361;  makes  a  clearing 
at  Montreal,  362;  descends  the 
rapids  of  St.  Louis,  363 ;  visits  the 
Indians  at  Lake  St.  Louis,  363;  in- 
terview with  the  Huron  Indians, 
363;  returns  to  Quebec,  363;  in 
conference  with  De  Monts  at  Pons, 
363;  returns  to  Paris,  364;  injured 
by  fall  of  his  horse,  364;  power 
given  him  over  trade,  exploration, 
etc.,  .364;  interests  Comte  de  Sois- 
sons  in  New  France,  364;  the  two 


objects  of  his  ambition,  366;  his  be- 
lief in  the  discoveries  of  Vignau, 
368;  returns  to  Canada  to  follow 
them  up,  369;  with  exploring  party 
sails  up  the  Ottawa,  369-371 ;  meets 
with  an  accident,  369;  plants  the 
emblems  of  his  faith  in  the  wilds  of 
Canada,  372;  his  account  of  his 
march,  373;  discovery  of  an  astro- 
labe lost  by,  373  note ;  at  the  vil- 
lage of  the  AJgonquins,  374 ;  crosses 
Muskrat  Lake,  375;  interview  with 
the  chief  Nibachis,  375;  at  Tes- 
souat's  feast,  376,  377  note ;  asks 
assistance  of  Tessouat,  377;  which  • 
he  refuses,  379;  concerning  the  im- 
posture of  Vignau,  379-381;  returns 
to  Montreal,  382 ;  departs  for  France, 
383 ;  his  religious  zeal,  384';  interests 
the  Recollet  Friars  in  his  mission, 
384 ;  returns  to  Quebec  with  them, 
387;  at  Montreal,  388;  his  policy 
concerning  the  Indians,  389;  disap- 
pointed in  an  attack  on  the  Iroquois, 
390;  discovers  Lake  Nipissing,  393; 
sails  down  the  French  river,  394; 
encounters  an  Algonquin  tribe,  394; 
arrives  at  the  village  of  the  Nipis- 
sings,  394;  discovers  Lake  Huron, 
395;  at  Otouacha,  a  Huron  town, 
396;  received  by  the  Hurons,  396; 
his  estimate  of  the  Huron  villages, 
396  note ;  meets  Le  Caron  at  a 
Huron  village,  397;  attends  the  cele- 
bration of  mass,  397 ;  greeted  by  the 
Indians,  399;  starts  on  a  tour  of  ob- 
servation, 399 ;  arrives  at  Cahiague, 
399;  joins  the  Hurons  in  another 
attack  on  the  Iroquois,  400;  takes 
part  in  a  deer  hunt,  401,  410;  dis- 
covers Lake  Ontario,  401;  describes 
the  defences  of  the  Onondagas,  402; 
interferes  in  an  Indian  skirmish, 
402  ;  instructs  the  Indians  in  the  art 
of  war,  404;  attacks  the  Iroquois, 
404;  wounded,  405;  meets  with 
fitienne  Brule,  406 ;  loses  prestige 
with  the  Hurons,  406;  winters  with 
them,  406;  lost  in  the  woods,  411; 
arrives  at  the  Indian  settlement, 
412 ;  travels  with  the  Indians  to 
Cahiague,  413;  starts  homeward, 
414;  recalled  to  the  Huron  town, 
414;  acts  as  umpire  in  an  Indian 
quarrel,  415;  arrives  at  Quebec, 
415;  makes  some  improvements  at 
Quebec,  417;  the  difficulties  of  his 
position,  417  ;  his  endeavors  to  open 
trade,  420,  421 :  returns  from  France 
with  his  wife,  421;  lays  his  griev- 
ances before  the  King,  423;  begins 
to  rebuild  the  fort,  427;  a  member  of 


INDEX. 


461 


the  Company  of  New  France,  432; 
established  an  outpost  at  Cape  Tour- 
mente,  435;  expecting  an  attack 
from  the  English,  436;  refuses  to 
surrender,  436;  his  desperate  re- 
solve, 438;  the  terms  of  capitulation, 
438;  surrenders  Quebec  to  the  Eng- 
lish, 439;  descends  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Tadoussac,  440;  meets  a 
French  ship  with  supplies,  440 ; 
quoted  concerning  Micliel,  443;  ar- 
rives in  London,  443;  forms  a  new 
association,  448;  his  zeal  and  loy- 
alty to  France,  448 ;  assumes  com- 
mand at  Quebec,  449;  chooses  Le 
Jeune  his  confessor,  450;  builds  a 
chapel  at  Quebec,  451;  death  of, 
452;  his  burial  place,  453  note  ;  his 
character,  453;  his  books,  454. 

Chantilly,  372. 

Charles  the  First,  aids  the  Hugue- 
nots, 433;  restores  New  France  to 
the  French  crown,  444. 

Charles  the  Fifth,  23,  194,  215;  jeal- 
ousy of  French  expeditions,  218. 

Charles  the  Eighth,  the  condition  of 
France  under  his  reign,  192. 

Charles  the  Ninth,  the  French  peti- 
tion for  redress  to,  145  ;  mentioned, 
41,  56,  151 ;  asserts  the  French 
right  to  Florida,  152,  153;  demands 
redress  for  the  massacre  in  Florida, 
154 ;  submits  to  the  decision  of 
Spain,  155;  his  leaning  toward  the 
Catholics,  156. 

Charles  River,  254. 

Charlesbourg-Royal,  Cartier's  party 
winter  at,  221. 

Charlesfort,  built  by  Coligny's  colo- 
nists, 41;  burned,  43. 

Charlevoix,  quoted,  101  note  ;  a  Jes- 
uit, 157. 

Chatham  Harbor,  called  Port  For- 
tune, 264. 

Chaton,  Estienne,  engaged  in  Ameri- 
can fur-trade,  231. 

Chauvin,  joins  Pontgrave  in  coloni- 
zation scheme.  235  ;  death  of,  240 ; 
mentioned,  328. 

Chauvin,  Pierre,  of  Dieppe,  left  in 
charge  at  Quebec,  353. 

Chefdhotel,  sent  for  the  convicts  at 
Sable  Island,  234;  a  Norman  pilot, 
234;  his  robbery  of  the  convicts, 
234,  234  note. 

Chenonceau,  the,  probably  Archer's 
Creek,  41. 

Chesapeake  Ba)',  called  by  Menendez 
St.  Mary's,  103;  supposed  com- 
munication with  the  St.  Lawrence, 
148,  149  note. 

Chevalier,  arrival  of,  at  Port  Royal, 


271;  entertained  at  Port  Roval, 
272. 

Cheveux  Releves,  Indians  so  named 
by  Champlain,  394,  413. 

Chihuahua,  town  of,*12  note. 

Chilaga  (Hochelaga),  202  note. 

China,  368. 

Christmas  Day  in  New  France,  452. 

Cinaloa,  12  note. 

Clark,  Gen.  John  S.,  402  note. 

Cohasset,  254. 

Cointac,  a  student,  29. 

Coliguy,  Caspar  de.  Admiral  of  France, 
22;  character  of,  23;  his  scheme  for 
a  colon}'  in  America,  34;  renews 
his  colonization  enterprise,  49 ;  re- 
quests Laudonniere's  resignation, 
94;  concerning  his  French  colony, 
153;  his  power  waning,  156. 

Coligny  Colonists,  landing  at  Florida, 
36;  received  by  the  Indians,  36; 
their  explorations,  37-40;  their  im- 
pressions of  Florida,  37;  landing  at 
Fernandina,  38;  naming  the  rivers, 
39 ;  settle  at  Port  Royal,  39  ;  build 
a  fort,  41;  attend  an  Indian  festi- 
val, 42;  become  discontented,  44; 
appoint  new  commander,  44;  build 
a  vessel,  45;  abandon  Port  Royal, 
45,  46 ;  taken  prisoners  by  an  Eng- 
lish bark,  46;  who  composed  the 
second  party,  49,  49  note.  See 
F'ort  Caroline. 

Colombo,  Don  Francisco,  238. 

Colonization,  French  and  English, 
compared,  431. 

Columbus,  Christopher,  18,  152,  187, 
188. 

Company  of  New  France,  the,  formed 
by  Richelieu,  429  ;  rights  and  duties 
of,  430. 

Conde,  Prince  de,  22,  49;  becomes 
Lieutenant-General  of  New  France, 
365 ;  his  character,  365 ;  his  interest 
in  New  France,  366;  his  jealousy 
of  Henrv  the  Fourth,  365. 

Convicts  at  Sable  IsLind,  232,  233; 
taken  back  to  France,  234,  234  note  ; 
allowed  to  engage  in  the  fur-trade, 
234,  234  note. 

Corisande,  mistress  of  Henry  the 
Fourth,  283. 

Corruption  at  the  French  court,  22. 

Cortes,  Hernando,  conquest  of  Mex- 
ico by,  11. 

Cosette,  French  captain  at  Florida, 
114, 

Coton,  Father,  confessor  to  Henry  the 
Fourth,  276,  288. 

Couexis,  Indian  chief,  43. 

Council  of  the  Indies,  their  report, 
219, 


462 


INDEX. 


Cousin,  a  navigator,  discoveries   of, 

187. 
Crown  Point,  347. 
Cuba,  10,  11,  100. 
Cumberland  Head,  345. 


D. 


D'Alava,  ambassador  at  Paris,  152. 

Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  commission  to  Ar- 
gall,  306;  his  wrath  toward  the 
Jesuits,  312;  champion  of  British 
rights,  313. 

Daniel,  Captain,  arrives  in  the  St. 
Lawrence,  443;  seizes  an  English 
fort,  443. 

Dauphine,  the,  one  of  Verrazzano's 
vessels,  194. 

Debre,  Pierre,  164 

De  Chastes,  Aymar,  l:is  character,  240; 
his  loyalty  to  the  King,  240 ;  de- 
termination to  colonize  New  France, 
240;  forms  a  company,  241;  a  pa- 
tent granted  to  him,  241;  death  of, 
242. 

Deer  hunt,  the  Indians'  preparation 
for,  401,  410. 

De  la  Noue,  Father,  arrival  at  Quebec, 
425;  his  mission  to  the  Hurons, 
425. 

De  L(?rv,  a  Calvinist  minister,  28  note, 
31. 

Denis,  of  Honfleur,  explores  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  192. 

D'Entragues,  Henriette,  an  ally  of  the 
Jesuits,  287. 

Desdames,  436,  437. 

Des  Prairies,  in  the  fight  with  the 
Iroquois,  357. 

Deux  Rivieres,  393. 

Dieppe,  town  of,  240,  243. 

Dolbeau,  Jean,  a  Franciscan,  386 ; 
endeavors  to  convert  the  Indians 
at  Tadoussac,  387;  nearly  loses  liis 
sight  and  returns  to  Quebec,  388. 

Don  Antonio,  Portuguese  prince,  177. 

Dominica,  Menendez  lands  at,  106. 

Donnacona,  Indian  chief  at  Quebec, 
203  note ;  his  strategv  with  Cartigr, 
205,  206  note  ;  death"of,  218. 

D'Orville,  Sieur,  at  St.  Croix,  250. 

Drake,  90,  193. 

Dreams,  the  power  of,  amons:  Indians, 
347  note. 

Dry  Mountain,  302. 

Du  Jardin,  concerning  sending  of 
Jesuits  to  Port  Roj'al,  287. 

Du  Pare,  left  in  command  at  Quebec, 
360;  at  Montreal,  383. 

Du  Plessis,  Friar,  at  Quebec,  387. 

Diipont,  39. 


Du  Quesne,  refuses  to  send  Jesuits  to 

Port  Koyal,  287. 
Durantel,  Indian  chief,  406,  412;  ac- 
companies  Champlain    home,   415; 

his  entertainment,  416. 
Dutch,  the,  their  fur  traffic  along  the 

St.  Lawrence,  271;  on  the  Hudson, 

aid  the  Iroquois,  400  note. 
Du  Thet,  Gilbert,  sails  for  Acadia,  301 ; 

death  of,  308. 
Duval,    in   plot    against    Champlain, 

331;  hanged  by  Champlain,  332. 

E. 

Eliot,  Charles  W.,  256  note. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  177. 

England,  aids  the  Huguenots  in 
I'  ranee,  433. 

England  and  France,  peace  restored 
between,  443. 

English,  the,  pillage  Cape  Tour- 
mente,  435;  at  Quebec,  436;  seize 
Roquemont  with  supplies  for  Que- 
bec, 437;  return  home  from  Quebec, 
438;  Quebec  surrenders  to  the,  439; 
leave  Quebec,  448. 

English  Churchmen  versus  the  Puri- 
tans, 320. 

English  claim  to  America,  313. 

English  colonization  compared  with 
French,  431. 

English  fishing-vessels  at  Newfound- 
land,  2.30. 

Equille  River,  called  Annapolis.  266. 

Etechemin  Indians  of  Acadia,  253. 


F. 

Falls  of  Niagara,  242  note. 

Falls  of  the  Chats,  371. 

Farrar,  Captain,  443  note. 

Fayal,  318. 

Fernald,  Mr.,  304  note. 

Fernandina,  landing  of  colonists  at, 
.38. 

Fisheries,  at  Newfoundland,  103,  189, 
229. 

Fleur}',  Captain  Charles,  commander 
of  "the  "Jonns,"  301;  mentioned, 
303,  .320;  conduct  during  the  attack 
on  his  vessel  by  the  English,  308. 

Florida,  discoveries  of  De  Ayllon  in, 
11;  explorations  of  De  Narvaez  in, 
12;  discovery  of,  by  Ponce  deLeon, 
11;  a  rich  harvest  to  the  explorer, 
13;  indefinite  boundary  of,  18;  Eng- 
lish, Spanish,  and  French  claims 
to,  18,  19  ;  its  fruitfulness  and  re- 
sources,  37,   38  ;    Ribaut's   account 


INDEX. 


463 


of,  38 ;  arrival  of  the  Colif^y  col- 
onists at,  35;  abandoned  by  Uiem, 
46;  the  boundaries  of,  according  to 
Spanish  geographers,  lO^i;  its  boun- 
daries according  to  the  Spanish,  152; 
how  divided,  202  note. 

rontaincl)k'au,  372. 

Forqiievaulx,  French  ambassador,  con- 
cerning tiie  massacre  in  Florida,  153, 
154,  155. 

Fort  Caroline,  built  by  Landonni^re, 
56;  discontent  at,  68;  mutiny  and 
conspirac}- at,  72;  dei)artiire  of  mu- 
tineers from,  73  ;  arrival  of  two 
Spaniards  at,  their  strange  stories, 
79;  famine  at,  81;  the  colonists  ap- 
ply to  Outina  for  provisions,  83 ; 
the  colonists  deceived  by  (Jiitina, 
attack  and  take  him  prisoner,  84; 
the  French  prepare  to  leave,  92 ; 
arrival  of  Jean  Ribaut  with  rein- 
forcements, 93;  arrival  of  a  Spanish 
war  ship  at,  95;  anxiety  at  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Siianish,  and  coun- 
cil of  war  held,  114  ;  defenceless, 
117;  attacked  by  Menendez,  massa- 
cre at,  12-3,  124;  the  fugitives  at, 
125,  128;  ferocity  of  the  Spaniards 
at,  ;27;  called  San  Mateo,  149;  the 
massacre  at,  avenged,  173. 

Fort  Colignj',  name  given  to  Hugue- 
not settlement  at  Kio  Janeiro,  26. 

Fort  George  Island,  162. 

Fort  San  Mateo,  Gourgues  prepares  to 
assault,  171,  171  note ;  taken  by 
Gourgues,  173.     See  Fort  Caroline". 

Fort  Ticonderoga,  346. 

Fort  William  Henry,  347. 

Fortress  Monroe,  311. 

Foucher,  attacked  at  CapeTourmente, 
435. 

Fougeray,  at  St.  Croix,  251. 

Fountain  of  Youth,  10,  10  note. 

Fourneaux,  ringleader  of  buccaneers, 
72;  shot  for  a  mutiny,  76. 

France,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  21 ; 
corruption  at  the  court  of,  lOi;  her 
mission  in  America,  179  ;  her  vi- 
tality wasted  in  Italian  wars,  192; 
after  her  thirty  years'  conflict,  235; 
her  policy  in  Indian  politics,  337; 
her  desire  to  reinstate  herself  in 
New  France,  447;  her  weapons  of 
conquest,  her  instruments  of  pro- 
selytism,  452. 

France  and  Spain,  state  of  their  inter- 
national relations,  151. 

France-Roy,  named  by  Roberval,  225. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  St.,  founder  of  the 
Franciscan  Order,  385. 

Francis  the  First,  character  of,  193; 
sends  Verrazzano  on  voyage  of  dis- 


covery, 194;  at  battle-field  of  Pavia, 
198;  mentioned,  199,  215;  quoted 
concerning   Cartier's  vovage,  217. 

Franciscans,  the,  in  Spanish  America, 
386. 

Franklin  Inlet,  395. 

French  account  of  the  rriassacre  at 
Fort  Caroline,  145,  146. 

French  adventurers  in  America,  188. 

French  Cape,  36. 

French  colonization  compared  with 
English,  431. 

French  court,  demands  redress  for  the 
massacre  at  Florida,  153,  154. 

French  fishermen  at  Canseau,  230. 

F"rench  Protestantism  in  America,  179. 

French  River,  394. 

Frenchman's  Bay,  .302. 

Frenchmen,  arrival  of,  in  Florida,  48, 
50;  the  massacre  of,  at  Fort  Caro- 
line, 124-126;  number  slain  at  Fort 
Caroline,  127 ;  shipwrecked  at  Ma- 
tanzas  Inlet,  133  ;  endeavors  to 
reach  Fort  Caroline,  133;  interviews 
with  Menendez,  135;  surrender  to 
Menendez,  138  ;  butchery  of,  by 
IMenendez,  143  ;  survivors  of  the 
massacre,  149,  150;  an  attempt  to 
drive  them  from  Acadia,  434.  See 
Fort  Caroline. 

Fugitives  from  the  massacre  at  Fort 
Caroline,  125,  128. 

Fur- Trade,  concerning  the,  in  Nova 
Scotia,  243,  325 ;  of  the  Dutch  along 
the  St.  Lawrence,  271;  at  Tadous- 
sac,  327:  monopolized  by  the  Caen 
brothers,  427,  427  note. 

Fur-Traders,  the,  at  Newfoundland, 
230,  230  note ;  at  Tadoussac,  360 ;  at 
Quebec,  420. 


G. 


Gaillon,  Michel,  226. 

Gamble,  Pierre,  trader  to  the  Indians 
in  Florida,  78;  marries  a  chief's 
daughter,  79. 

Ganabara,  former  name  for  Rio  Ja- 
neiro, 26  :  arrival  of  Calvinist  minis- 
ters at,  28 ;  seized  bj'  the  Portuguese, 
32. 

Garay,  Juan  de,  discoveries  of,  in 
Florida,  11. 

Gaspi5,  200,  .326. 

(jenesee  River,  the,  346. 

Geneva,  sends  colonists  to  Florida,  27. 

Genre,  plots  against  life  of  Laudon- 
niere,  69;  his  treachery  to  Laudon- 
niere,  70. 

Georgia,  State  of,  15. 

Georgian  Bay,  395. 


464 


INDEX. 


Goat  Island,  257. 

Godfrey,  102. 

Gouldsborough  Hills,  302. 

Gourgues,  Dominique  de,  his  early 
life,  157,  158  ;  his  religious  senti- 
ments, 157;  his  hatred  of  Spaniards, 
157;  vows  vengeance  against  them, 
158  ;  commissioned  to  the  slave- 
trade,  159,  159  note ;  plans  an  ex- 
pedition, 159,  159  note ;  his  follow- 
ers, 159  ;  sails  for  Africa,  159  ; 
addresses  his  followers,  160;  lands 
at  Cape  San  Antonio,  160;  anchors 
off  St.  Mary's  River,  162  ;  wel- 
comed by  the  Indians,  162;  forms 
alliance  with  them  against  the 
Spanish,  163  ;  his  gifts  to  the  In- 
dians, 165  ;  advances  on  the  Spanish. 
167,  168,  169  ;  makes  the  attacii, 
170 ;  a  spj'  in  his  camp,  172 ;  takes 
Fort  Sau  Mateo,  173;  addresses  the 
Spanish  prisoners,  174;  his  inscrip- 
tion over  the  murdered  Spaniards, 
174;  his  mission  fulfilled,  174;  gives 
thanks  for  his  victory,  175  ;  returns 
to  France,  176;  coldly  received  at 
Court,  176;  retires  to  private  life, 
176;  enters  the  service  of  Elizabeth 
of  England,  177;  death  of,  177. 

•'Grace  of  God,"  the,  vessel  which 
bore  the  Jesuits  to  Port  Royal,  289. 

Grand  Bank,  the,  326. 

Grandchemin,  massacred  at  Fort  Caro- 
line, 126. 

Grand  Isle,  345. 

Granville.  329. 

Gravier,  M.  Gabriel,  301  note. 

Great  Head,  302. 

Green  Mountain,  Mt.  Desert,  302. 

Green  Mountains,  the,  of  Vermont, 
345. 

Grotaut,  agent  among  the  Indians  in 
Florida,  78. 

Guercheville,  Marquise  de,  her  adven- 
ture with  Henry  IV.,  283-285;  a 
patroness  of  the  Jesuits,  286;  assists 
Fathers  Biard  and  Masse  to  go  to 
Port  Royal,  288;  her  land  grants  in 
America,  297 ;  arranges  to  take 
possession  of  her  American  domain, 
300;  her  pious  designs  crushed,  320. 

Gulf  of  California,  12  note. 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  12. 

Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  192. 


H. 

Hamlin,  E.  L.,  304  note. 
Hampton  Beach,  254. 
Hampton  Roads,  311. 


Harbor,  the,  selected  by  the  Jesuits  at 
Mount  Desert,  304,  304  note. 

Havana,  108. 

Havre,  city  of,  35. 

Havre  de  Grace,  242. 

Hawkins,  Sir  John,  arrival  of,  at  Fort 
Caroline,  90;  advice  to  his  crew,  90; 
his  traffic  in  Guinea  slaves,  90;  his 
character,  91 ;  knighted,  91  note  ; 
relieves  the  French  at  Fort  Caroline, 
92. 

Hayti,  108. 

Hebert,  Louis,  at  Quebec,  417,  437. 

Henry  the  Second,  25,  27. 

Henry  the  Fourth,  receives  the  con- 
victs from  Sable  Island,  234;  por- 
trayed, 236;  grants  a  patent  to  De 
Chastes,  241;  mentioned,  276,  278; 
assassination  of,  281;  his  passion 
for  the  Marquise  de  Guercheville, 
283-285,  285  note. 

Heretics,  massacre  of  the,  by  Menen- 
dez,  134-44. 

Hilton  Head,  39,  41. 

Hispaniola,  landing  of  Gourgues  at, 
160. 

Hochelaga,  the  town  and  its  forti- 
ficalions,  205,  208;  Cartier  marches 
to  explore,  207;  the  Indians  jit,  208 
note,  210;  Cartier  at,  221 ;  its  popu- 
lation vanished,  242. 

Hochelaga  River,  named  by  Cartier, 
202  note.    See  St.  Lawrence  River. 

Honfieur,  301. 

Horse-foot  crab,  the,  255. 

Hostaqua,  Indian  chief,  62,  78. 

Houtil,  secretary  to  the  King,  384. 

Hudson,  Henry,  368  note. 

Hudson  River,  the  Dutch  fur-traders 
on  the,  296,  296  note,  347. 

Hudson's  Bay,  328. 

Huet,  Paul,  a  Recollet,  saj's  mass  at 
Tadoussac,  418. 

Huguenot  party,  character  of  the,  33, 
34. 

Huguenots,  the.  at  Geneva,  21 ; 
arrival  of,  at  Rio  Janeiro,  26 ;  Col- 
igny's  party  composed  of,  49;  con- 
cerning Menendez's  massacre,  152; 
instrumental  in  settling  Florida,  156 ; 
their  heretical  psalms  at  Quebec, 
419  ;  excluded  ifrom  New  France, 
431 ;  revolt  of,  in  France,  433. 

Hundred  Associates,  the,  436,  446. 

Hungry  Bay,  401. 

Huron' Indians,  the,  359;  their  trust 
in  Champlain,  363;  Le  Caron  cele- 
brates mass  among  the,  397 ;  led  by 
Champlain,  start  for  an  attack  on 
the  Iroquois,  400;  engage  in  a  deer 
hunt,  401;  land  in  New  York,  401; 
indulge   in  a  skirmish,  402;    cap- 


INDEX. 


465 


ture   some    prisoners,    402  ;    attack 
the  Iroquois,  and  retreat  with  their 
wounded,  404;  return   to  Lake  On- 
tario, 400. 
Huron-Iroquois  Indians,  208,  337  note. 


I. 


Indian  cemetery  on  the  Ottawa,  375. 

Indian  converts  at  Port  Roval,  279, 
280. 

Indian  pantomime,  205. 

Indian  warriors,  a  gathering  of,  at 
Cahiague,  400. 

Indian's  nigiitniare,  382. 

Indians,  the,  of  Florida,' welcome  Ri- 
baut,  36;  their  religious  festival, 
42;  hospitality  to  the  colonists,  43; 
their  reception  of  Laudonniere,  50- 
52;  two  veteran  chiefs,  51;  the  three 
confederacies  of  Florida,  57,  58; 
at  Hochelaga,  208  note,  210  ;  at 
Cape  Cod  attack  Chaniplain's  part}', 
255,  264 ;  Clianiplain's  polic3'  con- 
cerning, 389 ;  at  Quebec  turn  hos- 
tile, 422. 

Indies,  the  wealth  of,  194. 

Iroquois  Indians,  the,  337;  their  hunt- 
ing ground,  345  ;  their  war  dance, 
348;  their  armor,  350,  350  note  ; 
Champiain  attacks  them,  350;  van- 
quished, 351 ;  a  second  light  with  the 
Montagnais,  354-358;  attacked  by 
Champiain,  404;  attack  the  Recollet 
convent,  423 ;  canoes,  their  construc- 
tion, 348  note. 

Island  of  Uaechus,  now  Orleans,  203. 

Island  of  Orleans,  329,  435. 

Isle  a  la  Motte,  345. 

Isle  des  Allumettes,  374  note. 

Isles  aux  Coudres,  202  note. 

Isles  of  Demons,  191  note,  222. 

Isles  of  Shoals,  253. 


Jamav,  Denis,  a  Franciscan,  386;  at 

Quebec,  387. 
James   the    First,   his   land  grant  of 

North    America,    313;    mentioned, 

321. 
James    River,    Englishmen    at,    295; 

English  colonization  at,  305. 
Japan,  368. 

Jeannin,  President,  368. 
Jesuits,  the,  their  influence  over  the 

public  mind  in  Spain,  96;  project  of 

sending  them  to  America,  277;  their 

origin  and  policy,  278;  their  patron- 
,  ess,  the  Marquise  de  Gueicheville, 


278-288 ;  their  arrival  at  Port  Royal, 
289;  the  extent  of  their  influence, 
289;  become  landed  proprietors  in 
America,  297 ;  at  Port  Royal,  quarrel 
with  Biencourt,  298:  their  bad  treat- 
ment of  Poutrincourt,  300;  they  sail 
in  the  "Jonas"  to  Acadia,  301;  ar- 
rival at  Port  Royal,  301;  at  Mount 
Desert,  302;  select  a  harbor  to  dis- 
embark, 304;  attacked  by  Argall, 
308;  at  Jamestown,  312;  received 
by  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  312 ;  arrival 
of,  in  Canada,  424;  their  increase  in 
New  France,  425;  their  mission  lU 
New  France,  452. 

"Jesus,"  the,  one  of  Sir  John  Haw- 
kins's vessels,  89. 

Jeune,  Paul  le,  at  Quebec,  448,  449. 

Joachims,  rapids  of,  393. 

"Jonas,"  the,  her  mutinous  crew,  260, 
303;  sails  for  France,  274;  litted  out 
by  the  Jesuits  for  Acadia,  301. 

Jordan  River,  11  note,  39  note. 


K. 


Kamouraska,  329, 

Kennebec  River,  253. 

Kirke,  David,  434  note;  demands 
Chaniplain's  surrender,  436 ;  disap- 
pointed with  his  ventures,  440;  con- 
tinues his  depredations,  443;  sails 
for  England,  443;  not  reimbursed 
for  his  conquests,  444;  knighted, 
445. 

Kirke,  Gervase,  fits  out  an  expedition 
to  Canada,  434. 

Kirke,  Lewis,  plants  the  cross  of  St. 
George  at  Quebec,  4-39;  visits  the 
KecoUets  and  Jesuits,  439;  hospital- 
ity to  Herbert,  440. 

Kirke,  Thomas,  434;  seizes  a  French 
ship  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  440;  re- 
signs Quebec,  448. 


L. 


La  B.aye    Francjoise,   named   by  De 

Monts,  247. 
Labrador,  how  named,  216  note. 
La  Caille,  joins  Ribaut  in  attack  on 

Menendez,  116;  emissary  to  Menen- 

dez,  141. 
La  Chenaie,  329. 
La  Ch^re,  one  of  the  Coligny  colonists, 

killed,  44,  46. 
La  Fleche,  a  priest  with  Poutrincourt, 

279. 
La  Grange,  French  officer  at  Florida, 

114;  drowned,  133. 


30 


466 


INDEX. 


La  Heve,  arrival  of  La  Saussaye  at, 
301. 

Lake  Champlain,  discovery  of,  345; 
the  scenery  of,  346. 

Lake  George,  346. 

Lake  Huron,  discovery  of,  bv  Cham- 
plain,  395,  414. 

Lake  Monroe,  65. 

Lake  Oneida,  4()1. 

Lake  Ontario,  401,  407. 

Lake  of  St.  Peter,  '242,  .340. 

Lake  of  the  Chaudi^re,  Champlain  at, 
371, 

Lake  of  Two  Mountains,  368. 

Lake  Siincoe,  399,  400. 

Lake  Weir,  80  note. 

Lalemant,  Charles,  Jesuit,  arrival  of, 
in  Quebec,  424,  425  note. 

La  Motte.  at  St.  Croix,  251;  lieuten- 
ant to  La  Saussaye,  308 ;  sent  to 
France,  320. 

La  Pommerave,  in  Cartier's  party, 
207. 

La  Riviere  des  Etechemins,  discov- 
ered by  Champlain,  248. 

La  Roche,  Marquis  de,  proposal  to  col- 
onize New  France,  231 ;  power  given 
him  by  the  King.  231 ;  lands  his  con- 
victs at  Sable  Island,  232;  explores 
the  neighboring  coasts,  232  ;  driven 
by  a  storm  back  to  France,  233; 
thrown  into  prison,  234;  death  of, 
235. 

La  Roche  Ferriere,  agent  to  the  Indi- 
ans in  Florida,  78. 

La  Roquette,  plot  of,  to  kill  Lau- 
donniere,  69. 

La  Routte,  a  pilot,  340,  341. 

La  Salle,  336. 

La  Saussaye,  chief  of  the  Jesuit  col- 
ony, 301;  sails  for  Acadia,  301;  ar- 
rives at  Port  Roval,  301;  at  La 
Heve,  301;  at  Mo'unt  Desert,  302; 
harbor  selected  by,  304;  attacked  by 
the  English,  308;  flees  but  returns, 
309;  turned  adrift  by  Argall,  310; 
arrived  at  St.  Malo,  310 ;  sent  to 
France,  320. 

Laudonniere,  Ren^  de,  commanded 
squadron  to  I'lorida,  48;  portrayed, 
48;  landing  with  colonists  at  Flor- 
ida, 50;  reception  by  the  Indians, 
60,  52;  explores  the  coasts,  52,  55; 
his  promise  to  Satouriona,  54;  builds 
Fort  Caroline,  56;  forms  alliance 
with  Satouriona,  57 ;  releases  Satou- 
riona's  prisoners,  64;  his  followers 
discontented,  and  plot  to  kill  him, 
69;  illness  of,  70,  72;  the  complaints 
of  La  Caille  to  him,  71,  72;  made 
prisoner  by  mutineers,  73;  released 
by  Ottigny,  74 ;  describes  the  famine 


at  Fort  Caroline,  82,  83;  demands 
provisions  of  Outina  and  takes  him 
prisoner,  83,  84 ;  releases  his  pris- 
oner, 85;  ilhiess  of,  94;  resigns 
command  at  Fort  Caroline,  94;  his 
reception  of  Jean  Ribaut,  94;  charges 
made  against  him,  94;  plans  with 
his  officers  to  attack  Menendez,  114; 
left  at  Fort  Caroline  defenceless, 
117;  escapes  from  the  massacre, 
124;  returns  to  France,  129;  con- 
cerning his  expeditions,  152. 

Laudonniere,  vale  of,  55. 

Laverdiere,  ATbhe,  256  note. 

La  V'igne,  French  officer  at  Fort  Caro- 
line, 117,  123. 

Le  Caron,  Joseph,  a  Franciscan,  386; 
his  missionary  efforts  at  Montreal, 
388;  goes  up  the  Ottawa,  390; 
quoted  concerning  his  jouniey,  390; 
celebrates  mass  at  a  Huron  village, 
397;  joins  Champlain  in  his  travels, 
413;  concerning  the  arrival  of  the 
English  fleet,  435. 

Le  Clerc,  402  note. 

Ledyard,  L.  W.,  403  note. 

Le  Jeune,  eulogizes  Richelieu,  450. 

Le  Moyne,  artist  with  Laudonniere, 
56;  a  portrait  of  Outina  by,  81  note  ; 
joins  Ribaut  in  attack  on  Menen- 
dez, 116;  at  the  massacre  at  Fort 
Caroline,  124;  his  escape  from  the 
massacre,  12'.i;  account  of  the  mas- 
sacre, 146  note. 

L^rv,  Baron  de,  attempt  to  settle  on 
Sable  Island,  193. 

L(?ry,  Jean  de,  a  Calvinist  colonist,  31. 

Lescarbot,  Marc,  his  desire  to  venture 
to  Acadia,  258;  his  verse-making, 
religion  etc.,  259;  sails  for  Acadia  in 
ship '"Jonas,"  260 ;  his  poem  "Adieu 
a  la  France,"  260 ;  on  reaching  land, 
261;  quoted,  261,  265;  his  emotions 
on  being  at  sea,  261 ;  arrival  at 
Port  Royal,  262;  left  in  charge  at 
Port  Royal,  264;  explores  the  river 
£quille,  266;  plants  crops,  266;  per- 
sonates Neptune,  266;  his  religious 
services,  267  ;  preparing  his  History 
of  New  France,  267;  abandons  Port 
Royal  and  sails  for  France,  273,  274. 

Levis,  Henri  de  (Due  de  Ventadour), 
assumes  lieutenancy  of  New  France, 
424. 

Libourne,  probably  Skull  Creek,  39. 

Limoilou,  Cartier's  mansion,  222  note. 

Liverpool  Harbor,  246. 

Long  Island,  345. 

Long  Saut,  .369. 

"  L'Ordre  de  Bon  Temps,"  at  Port 
Royal,  268;  the  ceremony  at  their 
dinners,  269. 


INDEX. 


467 


Lorraine,  Cardinal  of,  22,  30,  49. 
Los  Martires,  148. 
Louis  the  Thirteenth,  297,  429. 
Loyola,  his  followers  iu  Canada,  424, 

450. 
Luther,  Martin,  30,  201. 

M. 

Madeira,  Island  of,  194. 

Maine,  the  grant  of,  313. 

Mai  Bay,  440. 

Mallard,  Captain,  rescues  the  fugitives 
at  Fort  Caroline,  129. 

Manitou,  the  Indians'  offering  to,  370 
note,  382. 

Marais,  arrives  at  Quebec,  336 ;  joins 
Champlain  in  attacking  the  Iro- 
quois, 340,  341. 

Maranne,  a  word  of  reproach,  174 
ncte. 

Marguerite,  the  story  of,  223,  224,  225 
note. 

Marquette,  discovery  of  Mississippi 
River  bv,  15. 

Marshfield,  254. 

Martyr,  Peter,  10  note. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  254. 

Masse,  Eneniond,  a  Jesuit  priest,  287; 
sails  for  Port  Royal,  288;  his  life 
among  the  Indians,  295;  carried  by 
La  Saussaye  to  Mount  Desert,  302 ; 
mentioned,  310;  arrival  of,  iu  Que- 
bec, 424. 

Matanzas  Inlet,  36,  133. 

Matchedash,  Bav  of,  395. 

Mattawan,  the,  393. 

Mavila,  Indian  town  in  Florida,  16. 

Mayarqua,  village  of  Florida,  65. 

May-day  in  Florida,  37. 

"  Mayilower,"  the,  of  the  Jesuits,  301. 

Mayport,  village  of  Florida,  50,  161. 

Meaux,  an  Ursuline  convent  at,   422. 

Medicis,  Catherine  de,  22,  40,  41,  151; 
her  policy  at  Court,  101 ;  concerning 
the  French  claim  to  America,  153. 

Medicis,  Marie  de,  patroness  of  the 
Jesuits,  277 ;  Queen  Regent,  282. 

Membertou,  an  Indian  ally  at  Port 
Royal,  263;  his  vengeance  against 
the  Armouchiquois,  273  ;  his  vil- 
lage, 273;  baptism  of  himself  and 
his  squaws,  279;  death  of,  293. 

Mendoza,  Francisco  Lopez  de,  chap- 
lain of  Menendez  expedition,  105; 
quoted,  107,  109,  112,  118,  120, 
128,  132,  139;  keeping  watch  at 
St.  Augustine,  131. 

Menendez,  Bartholomew,  at  St.  Augus- 
tine, 131. 

Menendez  de  Avil^s,  Pedro,  boyhood 


of,  97;  petition  to  the  King,  97,  99; 
early  adventures,  98;  receives  com- 
mission to  settle  Florida,  100;  des- 
tined to  save  Florida  from  the  heretic 
French,  102;  his  followers  enroll 
themselves,  102;  their  religious  zeal, 
102;  the  power  invested  in  him,  103; 
proposes  to  extend  his  dominion 
from  Newfoundland  to  the  South 
Sea,  103;  his  despatches  to  the 
King,  103,  104  note ;  his  plans  of 
settling  the  New  World,  103;  his 
fleet,  104 ;  who  comprised  his  com- 
pany, 104;  sails  from  Cadiz,  105; 
at  the  Canaries,  105;  extract  from 
his  letter,  105  note ;  overtaken  by  a 
storm,  106;  reaches  Dominica,  106; 
some  of  his  men  desert,  107;  arrival 
at  Porto  Rico,  107;  quoted,  108;  be- 
calmed in  the  Bahama  Channel,  108; 
invokes  heavenly  aid  on  his  attack, 
109;  lands  at  F'lorida,  109;  descries 
Ribaut's  ships,  109;  interviews  the 
Frenchmen,  110,  111  note;  attacks 
their  ships,  112;  founds  St.  Augus- 
tine, 113;  escapes  the  attack  of  the 
French  through  divine  interposition, 
118;  resolves  to  attack  Fort  Caro- 
line, 119;  marches  with  five  hun- 
dred men,  120-122;  attacks  the  fort, 
123;  his  massacre  of  the  Frenchmen, 
124-126;  his  humanity  to  women 
and  children,  126;  ignominious  treat- 
ment of  his  prisoners,  127  ;  his  piety, 
132;  goes  to  reconnoitre,  132;  re- 
turns to  St.  Augustine,  132;  marches 
to  Matanzas  Inlet,  134;  the  King's 
indorsement  of  his  atrocities,  134, 
150  note  ;  interview  with  the  French- 
men, 135-137;  the  French  surren- 
der to  him,  138;  butchery  of  the 
French  heretics,  139;  quoted,  con- 
cerning the  massacre,  139;  meets 
Ribaut  at  Anastasia  Island,  141: 
interview  with  Ribaut,  141,  142; 
butchery  of  Ribaut  and  his  party, 
143;  quoted,  concerning  death  of 
Ribaut,  144;  his  return  to  St.  Au- 
gustine, 147;  his  deeds  applauded, 
147 ;  his  despatch  to  the  King,  148; 
returns  to  Spain,  155;  strengthens 
Fort  Caroline,  161;  his  inscription 
over  the  massacred  Frenchmen,  173; 
returns  to  America  and  rebuilds  San 
Mateo,  177;  summoned  home,  178; 
death  of,  178,  179  note ;  crushed 
French  Protestantism  in  America, 
179;  quoted,  230. 

Mercoeur,  Due  de,  237. 

"Mer  Douce,"  (Lake  Huron,)  395. 

Mexico,  conquest  of,  by  Cort(5s,  11; 
mentioned,  16,  305. 


468 


INDEX. 


Michel,  Captain,  a  Calvinist,  joins  the 
expedition  against  (.Quebec,  434;  his 
bitterness  against  Kirke  and  tlie  Jes- 
uits, 441 ;  his  quanel  with  Brebeuf, 
442;  death  of,  44.J. 

Micmac  Indians  of  Acadia,  253. 

Mississippi  River,  12  note,  16;  dis- 
covery of,  by  Marquette,  15;  dis- 
covery of,  by  De  Soto,  15. 

Mississippi,  State  of,  15. 

Mitchell,  Henry,  of  Coast  Survey, 
256  note. 

Moscosa,  202  note. 

Mohawk  River,  the,  346. 

Mohier,  Gervais,  at  an  Indian  feast  at 
Tadoussac,  418 

Mollua,  Indian  chief,  62. 

Monouloy  Point,  2G4. 

Montagnais,  a  tribe  of  the  Algonquins, 
328;  their  liabits,  328;  a  band  of, 
at  Quebec,  333;  cared  for  bj'  Cham- 
plain,  334;  meet  and  attack  the 
Iroquois,  354-358;  their  victory, 358. 

Montcalm,  204. 

Montgomery,  204. 

Montluc,  Blaise  de,  159. 

Montmorenci,  Charlotte  de,  365,  365 
note. 

Montmorenci,  cataract  of,  242. 

Montmorenci,  Due  de,  22,  421,    429; 

,  action  concerning  tiie  traders  at 
Quebec,  423;  sells  his  lieutenancy 
of  New  France,  424. 

Montpensier,  Due  de,  quoted,  158  note. 

Montreal,  the  site  of,  207 ;  named  b}' 
Cartier,  211 ;  view  from  the  summit 
of,  212;  mentioned,  242;  considered 
as  a  site  for  a  settlement,  325 ; 
Champlain  makes  a  clearing  at,  362; 
a  trading-station,  418. 

Mont  Roval  (Montreal),  named  by 
Cartier,"  211. 

Monts,  Pierre  du  Guast,  Sieur  de, 
schemes  for  colonization  of  Acadia, 
243;  made  Lieutenant  General,  243; 
power  granted  him,  243,  244;  his 
action  with  the  fur-traders,  243, 
244;  his  incongruous  company,  244; 
sails  from  Havre  de  Grace,  245; 
lands  at  St.  JIary's  Bay,  246 ;  makes 
a  prize  of  a  fur-trader,  246 ;  settles 
the  colony  at  St.  Croix,  248,  2.50; 
explores  the  coast  of  Maine,  253; 
determines  to  settle  at  Port  Royal, 
256;  returns  to  France,  257;  at 
Paris,  258 ;  forms  another  company 
for  Acadia,  260:  endeavors  to  find 
a  priest  for  Acadia,  260;  his  gener- 
osity in  freighting  the  ship  "Jonas," 
268;  his  patent  for  Port  Royal  an- 
nulled, 271;  transfers  his  lands  to 
Madame   de  Guercheville,  297;  his 


passion  for  discovery,  324;  obtains 
a  patent  for  the  fur-trade,  325;  sends 
two  vessels  to  Canada,  326:  en- 
gaged in  the  fur-trade,  354;  a  death 
blow  to  his  trade,  300;  concerning 
his  colonization  scheme,  363. 

Mosquitoes,  356;  account  of  Sagard 
concerning,  392. 

Mount  Desert,  named  by  Champlain, 
253. 

Muskrat  Lake,  373. 


N. 

Nantasket  Beach,  254. 

Nantes,  Jean  de,  226. 

Narvaez,  Paniphilo  de,  explorations 
in  Florida,  his  death,  12. 

Natel,  Antoine,  reveals  a  plot  to  Cham- 
plain, .331.       . 

Nation  of  Tobacco,  Indian  tribe,  413, 
and  note. 

Nausett  Harbor,  called  Port  Malle- 
barre,  255. 

Navarre,  22,  49. 

Neutral  Indians,  their  position,  396, 
396  note. 

Newfounilland,  the  fisheries  at,  189, 
190,  200,  229. 

New  France,  how  divided,  202  note; 
adventurers  flocking  to,  361 ;  the 
prospects  of,  306;  the  nursling  of 
authority,  428  ;  Richelieu  assumes 
control  of,  429 ;  Richelieu's  plan  for 
trading  and  settling,  430 ;  restored 
to  the  French  crown,  443,  446;  the 
disastrous  attempts  at  settlement, 
446. 

Newport,  Cnptain,  305. 

Newport,  Vtrrazzano  at,  197. 

Newport  Mountain,  302. 

Newport  News,  311. 

New  Spain,  12. 

Nibachis,  Indian  chief,  quoted,  375. 

Nichols  Pond,  402  note. 

Nipissing  Indians,  the,  377,  377  note. 

Noel,  Jacques,  engaged  in  American 
fur-trade,  231. 

Noirot,  Father,  arrival  at  Quebec,  425. 

Norembega,  the  citj'  of,  253  note. 

Norman  fisherman  at  Newfoundland, 
229. 

Norman  sailors,  piratical  character  of, 
28. 

Normans,  the,  in  America,  18. 

"  Northern  Paraguay,"  the,  322. 

Norumbega,  202  note. 

"  No-see-' ems,"  the  insects  known  as, 
393. 

Nottawassaga  Bay,  394  note. 

Nouij,  Anne  de  la,  at  (.Quebec,  448. 


INDEX. 


469 


o. 

Oathcaqua,  Indian  chief,  marriage  of 
his  daughter,  80. 

Old  Point  Comfort,  311. 

Olotoraca,  Indian  scout,  166,  168,  170. 

Onatheaqua,  Indian  chief,  62. 

Onondaga  Kiver,  tlie,  .346. 

Ouondagas,  the,  defences  of  their  town, 
402,  402  note. 

Oracle,  the,  of  the  Indians,  344,  344 
nute. 

Orillia,  township  of,  399. 

Orleans,  channels  of,  435. 

Otouacha,  a  Huron  town,  Chaniplain 
at,  395. 

Ottawa  cemetery,  the,  375. 

Ottawa  Kiver,  the,  337;  at  dawn  of 
day,  369;  Chaniplain  explorations 
on  the,  369,  371 ;  the  scenery  on  the, 
370. 

Ottignj',  lieutenant  to  Laudonniere, 
52;  his  voyage  up  St.  John  Kiver, 
59;  his  visit  to  the  Thimagoa  In- 
dians, 61 ;  releases  Laudonniere  from 
mutineers,  74;  joins  Outina  in  at- 
tacking Potanou,  80;  deceived  by 
Outina,  attacks  and  takes  him  pris- 
oner, 84;  goes  to  Outina  for  pro- 
visions, 85;  attacked  by  the  Indians, 
86;  in  battle  with  them,  87,  88 ;  con- 
cerning the  attack  on  Meuendez, 
114;  escapes  from  the  massacre, 
124. 

Ouade,  Indian  chief,  43. 

Outina,  Chief  of  Thimagoa  Indians, 
58,  62;  attacked  by  Satouriona,  63; 
joined  b}'  Ottigny  attacks  Potanou, 
80;  taken  prisoner  by  the  colonists, 
83,  84;  released  by  Laudonniere,  85; 
"warns  the  Frenchmen  of  war,  86. 

Overman,  Captain,  373  note. 


P. 

Panama,  239. 

Pauuco  Kiver,  17. 

Paris,  .372. 

Parmentier,  .Jean,  190  note. 

Parry  Sound,  395. 

Passamaquoddy  Bay,  248. 

Pas^aniaquoddj^  Indians,  248. 

Patino,    one   of   Menendez's    officers, 

113. 
Paul  the  Fifth,  Pope,  77,  385. 
"Pearl,"  the  name  of  a  vessel,  127. 
Penetanguishine,  Harbor  of,  395,  409 

note. 
Penobscot  River,  called   the   Pemeti- 

goet,  etc.,  253. 
Peru,  305. 


Philip  the  Second,  21,  101;  commis- 
sions Menendez  to  .settle  Florida,  99; 
congratulates    Mcnendez,    150,   150 
nott ;  complains  of  the  French  inva- 
sions in  America,  152;    concerning 
redress  for  the  massacre  in  Florida, 
155. 
Pierria,  Albert  de,  commanded  colony 
at  Port  Koyal,  41 ;  his  tyrannj'  over 
tlie   colony,   44;    murdered   by   the 
colonists,  44. 
Pillar  of  Stone  erected  by  Kibaut,  38. 
Pinzon,  joins  Columbus  in  his  voyaife, 

188. 
Place  de  la  Greve,  351. 
Place  Kovale,  named  by  Champlain, 

362,  362  note. 
Plessis,   Pacitique   du,   a  Franciscan, 

386. 
Plymouth,  Champlain  at,  254;  the  set- 
tlement of  the  Puritans  at,  427. 
Plymouth  Kock,  427. 
Pocahontas,  abduction  of,  306;   mar- 
ried to  Kolfe,  306. 
Point  Allerton,  254. 
Point  Callieres,  362. 
Point  Levi,  329,  435. 
Ponmierave,  Charles  de  la,  sails  with 

Cartier,'  201. 
Ponce  de  Ler>n,  Juan,  discovery  of 
Island  of  Bimini  by,  10;  search  for. 
the  fountain  of  youth,  10;  bargain 
with  the  king  concerning  the  island, 
10  note;  discovers  Florida,  11;  at- 
tempts at  colonization  in  Florida, 
11;  death  of,  11. 
Pontbriand,  Claude  de,  sails  with  Car- 
tier,  201,  207. 
Pontgrave,  a  merchant  of  St.  Malo, 
235,  237,  241 ;  settles  a  colony  at 
Tadoussac,  its  untimely'  end,  235; 
sails  from  Havre  de  Grace,  245; 
captures  some  fur-traders,  246;  re- 
turns to  St.  Croix,  2.52;  left  in  com- 
mand at  Port  Royal,  257;  leaves 
Port  Royal,  262;  and  returns,  263; 
returns  to  Fran(;e,  264;  accident  oc- 
curs to  his  son,  265;  Biard's  visit  to 
him,  292;  sails  for  Canada,  326;  ar- 
rives at  Tadoussac,  .326;  encounters 
the  Basques,  327;  wounded,  327; 
returns  to  France,  333;  returns  to 
Tadoussac,  336;  returns  to  France, 
353;  again  sails  for  Canada,  353; 
at  Montreal,  388. 
Popham  and  Gilbert's  colonists  on  the 

Kennebec,  291. 
Porcupine  Islands,  302. 
Port  la  Heve,  280. 
Port  Mouton,  246. 

Porto   Rico,    Island  of,   10,    11,   100, 
107. 


470 


INDEX. 


Port  Royal,  Nova  Scotia,  granted  to 
Poutrincourt,  248;  De  Moiits  deter- 
mines to  settle  at,  257;  the  survi- 
vors of,  fjreet  Lescarbot,  2G2;  are- 
union  at,  26''5 ;  how  built  and  forti- 
fied, 207 ;  "  L'Ordre  de  lion  Temps  " 
at,  268;  the  bill  of  fare  at  Poutrin- 
court's  table,  208;  the  ceremony  at 
the  dinners  at,  269  ;  a  plea.<ant  win- 
ter at,  270;  the  busy  life  at,  270; 
arrival  of  Chevalier  at,  with  bad 
tidings,  271;  De  Monts'  monopoly 
at,  rescinded  and  patent  annulled, 
271;  to  whom  the  trouble  was  due, 
271;  the  colony  abandoned,  272,  273; 
discord  at,  21)5;  the  Jesuits  obtain 
possession  of,  297 ;  demolished  by 
Argall,  314;  the  survivors  of,  321; 
partially  rebuilt,  322;  captured  by 
Kirke,  444. 

Port  Royal,  S.  C,  Ribaut/s  visit  to, 
39;  a  garrison  to  be  planted  at,  103, 
104  note. 

Portsmouth  Harbor,  253,  254. 

Port  St.  Louis,  former  name  of  Ply- 
mouth, 254. 

Portugal,  king  of,  concerning  expedi- 
tion to  America,  219. 

Portuguese  fishing  vessels  at  New- 
foundland, 230. 

Potanou,  an  Indian  chief,  57,  62;  at- 
tacked by  the  Frenchmen  and  put 
to  rout,  67;  attacked  by  Outina, 
80. 

Poutrincourt,  Baron  de,  244;  obtains 
a  grant  of  Port  Royal,  248;  returns 
to  France,  250;  determines  to  go  to 
Acadia,  258;  forms  a  company  to- 
gether with  Lescarbot,  260;  sails  for 
Acadia  in  ship  "Jonas,"  260;  arrival 
at  Port  Royal,  262;  explores  with 
Champlain  the  Massachusetts  coast, 
264 ;  the  bill  of  fare  at  his  table,  268 ; 
his  busy  life  at  Port  Roj'al,  270; 
abandons  Port  Royal,  272,  273;  sails 
for  France,  274;  obtains  a  confirma- 
tion of  his  grant  to  Port  Royal,  276 ; 
his  religious  sentiments,  277;  his 
possessions  in  Champagne,  278  ; 
makes  a  second  voyage  to  Acadia, 

I  278;  evades  taking  Jesuits  to  Port 
Royal,  278;  arrival  at  Port  Royal, 
278;  begins  to  Christianize  the  In- 
dians at,  279;  sentiments  toward 
Father  Biard,  290;  sails  for  France, 
291  ;  thrown  into  prison  by  the 
Jesuits,  300:  mentioned,  303,'  360; 
quoted,  317;  comes  again  to  Port 
Royal,  3^1;  returns  to  France,  321; 
in  the  attack  on  M^rv,  322;  death 
of,  322,  322  note. 

Prescott  Gate,  330. 


Protestantism    in  New  England,    its 

character,  427. 
Prout's  Neck,  the  Indians  at,  254. 
Puritans,  the,  their  character,  35;  their 

settlement  at  Plymouth,  427 ;  their 

religious  despotism,  427,  and  twte  ; 

their  church  discipline,  428. 


Q. 

Quebec,  mentioned,  202  note,  203  note, 
242;  Cartier's  visit  to,  204;  the 
site  of,  204,  329  ;  origin  of  the 
name,  329  note ;  Champlain  com- 
mences building  at,  331;  a  dreary 
winter  at,  335 ;  the  coming  of  spring, 
335;  Champlain  begins  a  farm  at, 
417;  the  rival  interests  of  the  col- 
ony at,  419;  the  fur-traders  at,  420; 
Champlain  endeavors  to  secure  trade 
to,  421 ;  the  vagabond  condition  of 
the  colony  at,  422  ;  the  monopolists 
at,  423 ;  Champlain  attempts  to  re- 
build the  fort  at,  427;  the  starving 
colony  at,  434;  news  received  from 
Cape  Toumiente,  435;  the  English 
fleet  at,  436;  the  suffering  increases 
at,  437;  the  terms  of  capitulation, 
439;  taken  ]iossession  of  by  Caen, 
448;  Champlain  again  assumes  com- 
mand, 449;  becomes  a  mission,  451. 

Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  concerning 
her  dowry,  444. 

Quentin,  Father,  sails  for  Acadia,  301. 
313. 


R. 


Ravaillac,  the  assassin  of  Henry  the 
Fourth,  281,  351. 

Razillv,  Claude  de,  443,  and  note. 

Rt'collet  Friars,  interested  in  Cham- 
plain's  mission,  384;  granted  letters 
patent,  385;  embark  for  Canada, 
387;  their  arrival  at  Quebec,  387; 
assign  to  each  his  niissionarv  prov- 
ince, 387,  424;  their  garb,  387,  and 
note ;  celebration  of  mass  bv  the, 
387;  build  at  Quebec,  417;"  their 
convent  attacked  by  the  Iroquois, 
423;  apply  to  the  Jesuits  for  assist- 
ance, 424;  excluded  from  Canada, 
450. 

Red  River,  12  note. 

Ribaut,  Jacques,  127,  130;  his  escape 
from  Menendez,  128. 

Ribaut,  Jean,  expedition  to  Florida 
with  Coligny  colonists,  35;  landing 
on  coast  of  Florida,  37 ;  erects  a 
pillar  of  stone  at  mouth  of  River  of 


INDEX. 


471 


May,  38;  account  of  Florida,  38,  38 
note  ;  speech  to  his  company,  40 ; 
returns  to  France,  41 ;  arrival  at  Fort 
Caroline  with  reinforcements,  93; 
about  to  sail  for  Florida,  100,  105; 
his  ships  attacked  by  Menendez, 
112 ;  plans  to  attack  Menendez, 
115;  sails  to  the  attack,  116;  the 
Spaniards  escape  him,  118;  lands 
at  Anastasia  Island,  140;  interview 
with  Menendez,  141,  142;  offers  a 
ransom  for  his  men,  142;  and  his 
party  massacred  by  Menendez,  143 ; 
concerning  his  surrender  to  Menen- 
dez, 147;  concerning  his  expedi- 
tions, 152. 
Richelieu,  the  champion  of  absolutism, 

428  ;  his  influence  in  the  destiny 
of  New  France,  428  ;  his  character 
portrayed,  429 ;  forms  a  company  of 
traders  with  New  France,  429;  as- 
sumes control  of  New  France,  429; 
constitutes  to  himself  certain  offices, 

429  ;  his  plan  for  settling  New 
France,  430;  his  action  concerning 
the  Huguenot  revolt,  433;  his  views 
concerning  the  restoration  of  New 
France,  447;  eulogized  by  Le  Jeune, 
450. 

Richelieu  River,  or  St.  John,  340,  354. 

Rio  del  Oro,  river,  159. 

Rio  Janeiro,  arrival  of  Huguenots  at, 
26;  arrival  of  Calvinists  in,  28. 

Rip  Raps,  the,  311. 

River  Annapolis,  called  the  Equille 
and  Dauphin,  257. 

River  Caloosa,  79. 

River  of  Cape  Rouge,  the  treasures 
found  on  its  banks,  220. 

River  of  Dolphins,  named  by  Laudon- 
niere,  50. 

River  of  May,  in  Florida,  38 ;  arrival 
of  French  squadron  at,  48,  50;  the 
site  proposed  for  the  colonv,  54. 

River  of  Palms,  18. 

Riviere  des  Iroquois,  called  the  Riche- 
lieu, and  St.  John,  340. 

Riviere  du  Guast,  probably  the 
Charles,  254. 

Roberval,  Sieur  de,  joins  Cartier  on  his 
second  voyage,  216;  Viceroy  of 
Canada,  216;  his  commission,  216 
note ;  sets  sail  from  Rochelle,  221 ; 
arrives  at  St.  John,  221 ;  sails  up 
St.  Lawrence,  225  ;  settles  the  col- 
ony at  Cap  Rouge,  225;  his  arbi- 
trary discipline,  226 ;  the  ill  fate  of 
the  colony,  226;  death  of,  227. 

Robin,  associated  with  Poutrincourt, 
276. 

Rochelle,  city  of,  243;  divided  betAveen 
trade  and'  religion.   260;    the   dis- 


orderly crew  of  the  "Jonas"  at, 
260;  the  merchants  of,  their  illicit 
traffic  at  (Quebec,  419  ;  the  Huguenot 
revolt  at,  433. 

Rocher  Capitaine,  393. 

Rock  of  Plymouth,  427. 

"  Uoi  Chevalier,"  the,  22. 

Rolfe,  marries  Pocahontas,  306. 

Roque,  Jean  Fran(;ois  de  la,  Sieur  de 
Roberval,  his  titles,  216. 

Roquemont,  sails  from  Dieppe  with 
supplies  for  Quebec,  433;  arriving 
with  supplies  for  Quebec  is  seized 
by  Engifsh  fleet,  437. 

Rossignol,  a  fur-trader,  246. 

Rouen,  city  of,  243;  the  merchants  of, 
suppressed  at  Quebec,  423. 

Rougemont,  Philippe,  death  of,  213. 

Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie,  281. 

Rye  Beach,  254. 


s. 


Sable  Island,  La  Roche  lands  his  party 
at,  232. 

Saco  Bay,  253. 

Sagard,  Gabriel,  a  Franciscan  friar, 
245 ;  his  experience  with  the  In- 
dians, 391,  392;  quoted  concerning 
the  mosquitoes,  392. 

Saguenai,  202  note. 

Saguenay  River,  235. 

Sailor,  a,  escaped  from  the  massacre  of 
Menendez,  145. 

Saint  Cler,  French  officer  at  Fort  Cavo- 
line,  117. 

Sainte  Marie,  French  officer  in  Florida, 
114. 

San  Augustin,  named  bv  Menendez, 
113. 

"San  Pelavo,"  the,  one  of  Menendez's 
ships,  lt)4,  107,  108,  110,  112,  114. 

Santander,  Dr.  Pedro  de,  proposal  to 
settle  Florida,  18  note. 

Santilla  River,  called  St.  Mary's,  162. 

Sarrope  Lake,  80  note. 

Satouriona,  an  Indian  chief,  51,  54; 
comes  to  Fort  Caroline,  56;  por- 
trayed, 56;  forms  alliance  with 
Laudonnicre,  57;  attacks  the  Thi- 
magoas,  63;  returns  with  prisoners, 
64;  turns  against  the  French  at  Fort 
Caroline,  81;  begs  the  prisoner 
Outina  from  Laudonni6re,  85;  joins 
Gourgues  against  the  Spanish,  164. 

Saut  au  Recollet,  425. 

Saut  St.  Louis,  406. 

Savalet,  a  fisherman,  274. 

Savannah  River,  the,  43. 

Scalping,  the  practice  of,  351  note. 


472 


INDEX. 


Scenery,  on  the  St.  John  River,  37,  52, 
53,  5.1,  00;  ill  tiie  wilderness  of 
Florida,  66;  through  the  Huron 
country,  3U5,  391J;  at  dawn  of  dav 
on  theOttawa,  300,  370,  371;  along 
the  banks  of  the  Ottawa,  371;  the 
Huron  woods,  411,  412. 

Schooner  Head,  scenery'  at,  302. 

Scituate,  254. 

Severn  Kiver,  399. 

Seville,  Cardinal  of,  219. 

Sewell's  Point,  311. 

Silk  womis,  the,  in  Florida,  37  note. 

bjafter,  Kev.  Edmund,  2.5(i  7iofe. 

Slave-t'ude,  the  father  of  the,  90. 

Smith,  Buckingham,  12  nole. 

Smith,  John,  the  Virginia  colonist, 
305. 

Soissons,  Comte  de,  made  Lieutenant 
General  of  New  France,  364;  death 
of,  365. 

SoHs  de  las  Meras,  Dr.,  134. 

"Solomon,"  the,  name  of  a  vessel,  89. 

vSovel,  town  of,  341. 

Soto,  Hernando  de,  expedition  of,  to 
colonize  Florida,  13;  explorations  of 
his  colonists  in  Florida,  14-18;  dis- 
covery of  Mississippi  Kiver  by,  15; 
forlorn  condition  of  his  colonists,  16; 
death  of,  16. 

Sourin,  at  St.  Croix,  251. 

South  Sea,  15. 

Spain,  discovery  of  America  by,  9 ;  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  20;  under 
Jesuit  influence,  96. 

Spanish  adventurers  in  America,  9, 
14-18. 

Spanish  fishing  vessels  at  Newfound- 
land, 2.30. 

Spanish     Fleet,    sailing    of    the,    for 

Florida,  105. 
Spanish  jealousy  of  French  enterprise 

in  America,  218. 
Spanish  policy  uppermost  in  France, 

Spice  Islnnds,  368. 

Stadacone,   former  name   of  Quebec, 

204;   Cartier  arrives  at,  212.     See 

Quebec. 
Stadin  River  (St.  Charles),  202  note. 
St.  Ann's,  369. 
St.  Augustine,   50;    founded  b}-  Me- 

nendez,  113. 
St.  Charles  River,  called  the  St.  Croix, 

explored  bv  Cartier,  204,  and  note, 

329,  417,  435. 
St.  Croix    Island,    Champlain   settles 

the   colony   at,    248,   2.50;  a  severe 

winter  at,  251;  sickness  and  death 

at,  252;    Pontgrav^    returns    from 

France  to,  252. 
St.  Croix  River,  249. 


St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  385. 

St.  Helen,  island  of,  368. 

St.  Jean,  .329. 

St.  John's  Bluff,  landing  of  Laudon- 
niere  at,.  55,  and  note,  82. 

St.  John's  River,  Florida,  38,  51;  a 
hunter's  paradise,  59. 

St.  John  River,  Nova  Scotia,  248,  329, 
341. 

St.  Lawrence,  Bay  of,  named  by  Car- 
tier,  202. 

St.  Lawrence  River,  concerning  its 
communication  with  Chesapeake 
Bay,  148;  concerning  the  passage 
of  the,  148,  140  n<jte,  200,  328; 
called  by  Cartier  the  Hochelaga, 
202  note )  explored  by  Cartier,  203 ; 
Indians'  plans  of  it,  242,  and  7iote  ; 
the  English  fleet  on,  commanded  b}' 
David  Kirke,.  437. 

St.  Louis,  the  castle  of,  417. 

St.  Louis  River,  102.;  the  rapids  of, 
Champlain  at,  242;  descending  the 
rapids  of,  .363,  and  note. 

St.  Malo,  the  merchants  of,  201 ;  town 
ot;  219,  200,  243;  concerning  the 
American  fur-trade,  231;  arrival  of 
the  colonists  at,  from  Port  Royal, 
274;  the  merchants  of,,  enlisted  in 
the  fur-trade,  366;  the  fur  company 
of,  suppressed,  423. 

St.  Martin,  148. 

St.  Mar3''s  Bay,  246;  search  for  iron 
and  silver  at,  248. 

St.  Mary's  River,  called  the  Seine, 
39,  162. 

St.  Roche,  .329. 

St.  Sauveur,  now  Frenchman's  Bar, 
302,  304. 

Sturgeon  Lake,  401. 

Sully,  the  King's  minister,  243. 

Susquehanna  River,  4(J7. 

Suza,  convention  of,  446. 

'•  Swallow,"  the, name  of  a  vessel,  89. 


Tadoussac,  Pontgrav^  settks  at,  235 ; 
mentioned,  240,  242;  the  centre  of 
the  fur-trade,  327  ;  the  fur-trade  at, 
354;  a  trading-station,  418;  mass 
said  at,  by  Paul  Huet,  418;  arrival 
of  the  English  fleet  at,  435,  436. 

Tampa  Bav,  14. 

Tancred,  102. 

Tequenonquihaye,  a  Huron,  town,  397. 

Terra  Corterealis  (Labrador),  202 
note. 

Terre  des  Bretons,  name  given  to 
northern  portion  of  America,  152. 


INDEX. 


473 


Tessouat,  Indian  chief,  his  village, 
375,  and  note  ;  his  feast  in  honor  of 
Ciuimplain,  37(i;  his  speech  to 
Champlain,  378;  accuses  Vignau  of 
imposture,  379. 

Thet,  Gilbert  du,  a  Jesuit  at  Port 
Royal,  298;  returns  to  France,  299. 

Thev'et,  Andre,  28  note  ;  account  of  the 
Isles  of  Demons,  191:  quoted,  218 
note,  222,  225  note,  226. 

Tliimasroa  Indians,  54,  57,  60;  mus- 
ter for  an  attack  on  Potanou,  66; 
their  treacherj'  and  battle  with  the 
Frenchmen,  86-89. 

Three  Rivers,  a  trading  station,  418; 
the  Indians  at,  hostile  to  the  French, 
422. 

Thunder  Bay,  395. 

Ticonderoga,  347. 

"Tiger,"  the,  a  vessel,  89. 

Touagiiainch;iin,  a  Huron  town,  397. 

Trent  River,  the,  401. 

"Trinity,"  the,  Ribaut's  flag  ship,  110. 

Trois  Rivieres,  425. 

Turnel,  Argall's  lieutenant,  318;  ar- 
rives at  Pembroke,  Wales,  319;  at 
I'ayal,  319 ;  treatment  of  Biard  while 
at  Fayal,  319;  commends  his  pris- 
oners to  the  Vice-Adniiral,  320. 


Vasseur,  an  officer  with  Laudonni^re, 
61 ;  voj^age  up  the  St.  John  River,  61; 
interview  with  the  Thimagoa  Indi- 
ans, 62;  makes  alliance  with  Outina, 
62;  carries  Satouriona's  prisoners  to 
Outina,  65;  attacks  Outina  and  takes 
him  prisoner,  84. 

Vera  Cruz,  148 ;  Champlain  at,  239. 

Verdier,  93. 

Verrazzano,  Hieronimo  da,  his  map, 
227. 

Verrazzano,  John,  birth  and  character 
of,  193;  sails  for  America,  194; 
lands  at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  195; 
describes  the  natives,  195;  sails  into 
Bay  of  New  York,  196;  arrives  at 
Newport,  197;  surveys  along  the 
New  England  coast,  197;  return  to 
France,  198 ;  dealings  with  the  In- 
dians, 196,  197;  death  of,  199;  nar- 
ratives of  his  voyage,  227  note. 

Vicente,  one  of  Menendez"s  olKcers, 
113. 


Viel,  Nicolas,  a  friar,  drowned  by 
Indians,  425. 

Vignau,  Nicolas  de,  his  winter  with 
the  Indians,  367;  his  pretended  dis- 
coveries, 368 ;  accompanies  Cham- 
plain in  explorations,  369;  fearful 
of  an  exposure  of  his  imposture, 
372;  pronounced  an  impostor  by 
Tassouat,  379;  confesses  his  impos- 
ture, 381;  at  Montreal,  383. 

Villafafie,  Angel  de,  commands  a 
squadron  to  Florida,  18. 

Villaroel,  tionzalo  de,  173  note. 

Villegaguon,  Nicolas  Durand  de,  in 
expedition  against  Algiers,.. ?3;  in 
war  against  Malta,  24;  his  character 
and  quarrels,  25 ;  carried  Mary 
Stuart  to  Paris,  25,  and  note;  plan 
for  a  Huguenot  colony  in  America, 
25;  arrival  with  colonists  at  Rio 
Janeiro,  26;  his  tyranny  in  the  col- 
ony, 26;  plot  for  his  destruction, 
27 ;  his  reception  of  the  Calvinists, 
28,  and  note  ;  his  polemics,  29 ;  tyr- 
anny to  Calvinists,  30;  reconverted 
to  Romanism,  30;  return  to  France, 
31;  controversy  with  Calvin,  31. 

Vincelot,  .329. 

Virginia,  King  James's  grant  of,  313. 


w. 

Wampum,  414  note. 

Washington,  Citv  of,  312. 

Wells  Beach,  254. 

White  Mountains,  253. 

Wilmington,  N.  C,  landing  of  Ver- 
razzano at,  195 ;  the  inhabitants  of, 
195. 

Wolfe",  204,  439. 


Yonville,   French  officer   in  Florida, 

114. 
York  Beach,  254. 


Zacatecas,  concerning  the  mines  at, 
148. 


University  Press  :  John  Wilson  &  Son,  Cambridge. 


